Ok, this certainly is not the best of my posts.It was inspired by this and the sorry state of roads in my home-town Dharwad.This was the best I could come up with after traveling almost the length and breadth of Mumbai for JMET and NMAT(One more post definitely needed for that).Dharwad->Thane->Powai->Koparkhairane->Vashi->CST->Dharwad.That was quite a trip and this post was written during the return journey. This was the best my tired mind could come up with.Have some more posts in the offing on my father's experiences as the returning officer during the upcoming Gram Panchayat and Zilla panchayat elections here. They talk of decentralisation of power and village empowerment, but all that has happened is that the rot has precipitated down to the bottom.Imagine a village being divided not only along caste lines,but also along political lines now.Politics is one of my favourite subjects and I saw how little of that is reflected in this blog.
Returning to the current post, it could have also been titled
The Monk who drove his Ferrari over a pot-hole.
or
Zen and the Art of pot-hole maintenance.
or
Harry-potholer!
or
The Autobiography of an Unknown Pothole
or
The Argumentative Indian Pothole
I don’t exist on paper.(I exist on road, of course!). what I meant to say was that I don’t have an official existence like most of you. The census of 2001 was conducted well before my ‘birth’ and I doubt if I’ll survive till the time the next census is carried out in 2011. Actually, the whole pot-hole community around me has been officially declared . In the dusty files of the Public Works Department consigned to some corner, they have been given the best possible burial a pot-hole can ever imagine. Covered with the supreme quality tar, and then rolled over by the strongest road-roller in the whole region, specifically ‘bought’ for that purpose. That is all ‘for the record’. The actual story is something else. Neither the tar came nor the road-roller. The holes weren’t filled, what were filled though were the beds of the executive engineer who floated the tender, the bank lockers of the contractor and the cup-boards of the minister. The minister actually made money twice. Once, while awarding the contract and the second time a 20% cut in from the same contractor after he began working on the ‘project’. That was two years ago. Some work was indeed done. It was the perfect patch work ever done. It was patchy both in terms of the quality of the work and also that it left lot of patches were still left untouched. Those which were covered up soon opened up and in pothole-speak, they are called ‘ghost-holes’ . The whole colony talks about them in hushed voices. Children pot-holes aren’t allowed to go close to them. That is why the area around those ghost-holes is quite deserted.
In the slum world, I live in what is the real world equivalent of a small locality in a city. there isn’t much of an activity, but once in a while I’m woken up from my slumber by a truck or two running over me carrying heavy goods. It hurts, not only physically but also in the heart. Not only these people run over you but also abuse you with choicest expletives for no fault of yours. It may sound a bit cynical, but we potholes do extract our pound of flesh. The faster these guys run over you, more is the pain they suffer. These humans are so strange. I’ll never be able to understand them. Two days back, this handsome hunk was riding what has been our latest nuisance, the hayabusa. He mutters such obscenities under his breath it spoilt my whole day. And yesterday he comes again, with his friend in the pillion, runs over me again and thanks God for my presence there. The reason?. He gets that ‘close touch’ with his -friend. These humans think that Gods must be crazy, but what they don’t know that it is them who are crazy. Just the other day he was cursing me no end, but at that moment he was glad I was there. I could make that from the gleam in his eyes. I pray to God to give me enough strength and make me grow in size such that the next time he runs over me, he gets such a ‘touch’ he’ll never forget in his life.
I often wonder about my parents. The elder potholes in our colony have taken such care of me that I don’t really miss my parents. But sometimes during the night I wonder if my parents might be among the countless stars in the sky. I dream of leading a quiet, peaceful life with papa pot-hole, mama pot-hole and a lil’ brother pothole until another one of the devils runs over me.
Let me share a secret with you all. We pot-holes are not actually very sure about our gender. Most of us assume our genders. What makes our situation even more piquant is that we are not ‘born’ normally. We come into existence by an , a tiny somewhere ‘evolves’ into a fully-grown pothole. I often wonder about what my name could be. Few days back, a bespectacled engineering student was almost kicked to by his friends when suggested a name for me. ‘Harry Pot-holer’!. His idea didn’t quite appeal to his friends. I guess I know what name I like. A female, the most beautiful I have seen till date, came close to me, slowed down and passed over me with such gentle care that I almost felt like I was in an embrace with her. Then with her soft, silky voice she gave me a name-‘Oeemah’. Yes, my name is Oeemah.
Ok, I guess it’s time to move on. I wish you all the best in this roller-coaster jouney called Life. And remember, no profanities the next time you come across a hurdle(pothole) on the road or in your life. It’s your creation and that your backache is not my headache. Don’t fall down, but recover soon and keep your eyes wide open and reach your destination without any hitches.
Sunday, December 18, 2005
Thursday, November 24, 2005
Dressed and Confused(DBCAs)
‘Open 24 hours’. In a fast-moving, never-sleeping,maximum city like Mumbai, one would expect such a thing to be written at a restaurant close to a railway station or more likely at a guest-house. But much to my amusement, I found this written across seemingly firm bosom of a mannequin at a Mega-Mart outlet in the suburban Kandivili. The very next day at my CAT centre I chanced upon this female (ok, a candidate) wearing the same T-shirt. No less than 44 eyes were ogling at her. 18 wore an amused look, 20 were looking at her just like any guy would look at a good-looking girl (maybe the T-shirt was what attracted them towards her, else it’d have been some other girl who’d be the object of their attention). And some 6 wore a seriously menacing look which seemed to say, ‘ok, let’s see what you’ve got madam’. Not that they intended to do anything dangerous, but the ‘bold’ statement the madam wanted to make had had its effect.
Now let’s come to the broader question. Before that let me ask myself one very pertinent question which you as a reader would want to ask me. The question being-‘what problem do I have with people wearing what they want to wear? ‘. At the outset, I’m a liberal and have no problem with people wearing what they are comfortable with. But what never misses out of my mind’s scanner and my watchful eyes is this whole thing of people wearing T-shirts to give out some kind of an attitude or to make a statement. If one is hip, hep, hop and dude/dudette -ish enough to carry him/herself well with the kind of attire he/she is wearing, that’s hardly anybody’s problem. But things tend to get a bit complicated when this segment of confused, wannabe youth wears T-shirts which appears to confuse them even more and with all the attention such T-shirts attract, the feeling of discomfort is quite palpable.
Che Guevera,Jim Morrison must be turning in their graves now. They are the ones seen most on these t-shirts PYTs wear. Yet they remain as foreign as ever. No, I’m not talking of that 8-year old kid who serves us tea near the college gate. He wears a Linkin park T-shirt with LP written in bold letters in fluorescent on a pitch black t-shirt. The shoulders of the T-shirt extend well beyond his elbow. Forget LP, he probably wouldn’t even be aware of Dr.Kalam being the president of India. I’m actually talking about this college-going student with a decent pocket money at his disposal, seven of ten of his ilk have a bike at their disposal too, hanging/chilling out with his friends at the most hip/hop/hep/ happening places in his city/town. You have more probability of finding such a vikas a.k.a viks in a tier 2 town than a city. But I wonder if wearing a black t-shirt with an ‘in your face’ face of Jim Morrison with ‘The Doors’ in glossy bold letters doesn’t exactly make him hip/hep/cool/. Complete the picture with a goatee, long hair, a yo-man with the ‘rock sign’ to boot interspersed with *ucks and screws, you have the DBCA- desi born confused American!
Am I actually saying that the kind of t-shirt one wears is an indication of an identity crisis or something? The point I might want to make is on a shaky ground and the arguments may not be backed by enough convincing arguments. But to me it appears more convincing than having to look and wonder at a female wearing a t-shirt which had –‘ for authorized persons only’ written right across her bosom.
P.S. Did the girl wearing that open 24 hours open t-shirt mean open as a noun or as a verb?
Now let’s come to the broader question. Before that let me ask myself one very pertinent question which you as a reader would want to ask me. The question being-‘what problem do I have with people wearing what they want to wear? ‘. At the outset, I’m a liberal and have no problem with people wearing what they are comfortable with. But what never misses out of my mind’s scanner and my watchful eyes is this whole thing of people wearing T-shirts to give out some kind of an attitude or to make a statement. If one is hip, hep, hop and dude/dudette -ish enough to carry him/herself well with the kind of attire he/she is wearing, that’s hardly anybody’s problem. But things tend to get a bit complicated when this segment of confused, wannabe youth wears T-shirts which appears to confuse them even more and with all the attention such T-shirts attract, the feeling of discomfort is quite palpable.
Che Guevera,Jim Morrison must be turning in their graves now. They are the ones seen most on these t-shirts PYTs wear. Yet they remain as foreign as ever. No, I’m not talking of that 8-year old kid who serves us tea near the college gate. He wears a Linkin park T-shirt with LP written in bold letters in fluorescent on a pitch black t-shirt. The shoulders of the T-shirt extend well beyond his elbow. Forget LP, he probably wouldn’t even be aware of Dr.Kalam being the president of India. I’m actually talking about this college-going student with a decent pocket money at his disposal, seven of ten of his ilk have a bike at their disposal too, hanging/chilling out with his friends at the most hip/hop/hep/ happening places in his city/town. You have more probability of finding such a vikas a.k.a viks in a tier 2 town than a city. But I wonder if wearing a black t-shirt with an ‘in your face’ face of Jim Morrison with ‘The Doors’ in glossy bold letters doesn’t exactly make him hip/hep/cool/. Complete the picture with a goatee, long hair, a yo-man with the ‘rock sign’ to boot interspersed with *ucks and screws, you have the DBCA- desi born confused American!
Am I actually saying that the kind of t-shirt one wears is an indication of an identity crisis or something? The point I might want to make is on a shaky ground and the arguments may not be backed by enough convincing arguments. But to me it appears more convincing than having to look and wonder at a female wearing a t-shirt which had –‘ for authorized persons only’ written right across her bosom.
P.S. Did the girl wearing that open 24 hours open t-shirt mean open as a noun or as a verb?
Wednesday, November 16, 2005
The Sound of Silence
This blog's been silent for a while because I'm tied up with some things and been listening to this song over and over again. Next post sometime around 1st week of December.Exams from tomorrow!
Hello, darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision
That was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence
In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
Beneath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed
By the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share...
And no one dare
Disturb the sound of silence.
"Fools," said I, "you do not know
Silence like a cancer grows."
"Hear my words that I might teach you,
Take my arms that I might reach you."
But my words like silent raindrops fell,
And echoed in the wells of silence.
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made.
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming.
And the signs said: "The words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls,
And whisper'd in the sound of silence
-The Sound of Silence
Simon and Garfunkel
Hello, darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision
That was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence
In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
Beneath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed
By the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share...
And no one dare
Disturb the sound of silence.
"Fools," said I, "you do not know
Silence like a cancer grows."
"Hear my words that I might teach you,
Take my arms that I might reach you."
But my words like silent raindrops fell,
And echoed in the wells of silence.
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made.
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming.
And the signs said: "The words of the prophets
Are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls,
And whisper'd in the sound of silence
-The Sound of Silence
Simon and Garfunkel
Saturday, October 22, 2005
A 'short' story and 'THE stroke of genius'
Wrote this in a short time, 3 minutes?! During the seminars. Practical exams from Monday and I'm writing this here!! My previous experiences should come in handy and no Ram here for that reassurance you guys,b@$!@^d$!
The 'short' story
His name was R.Ram. He was 5' tall. Like his name, his height was also very short. He used to cut his hair every fortnight, for he liked to keep it short. Hewas a good cricket player. While batting he used to despatch anything short, beyond the ropes. He was a brilliant fielder at short point, short fineleg and short mid-wicket bowling his main weapon was the shortpitched delivery which rose to an awkward height for the batsmen to tackle it. His memory lasted for a very short period, the time he spent in the exam hall was also very short it took a very short time for his teachers to correct his papers and he always fell short of the passing marks.
He was extremely short-tempered. His temper used to flare when his friends used to tease him for 'that thing' being short as well, owing to his short height. He used to get into serious fights over this. But, those fights were also shortlived for he lost due to his short stature deep inside he knew,'it' was indeed short.
When he was 18,he wanted a girlfriend. He wanted only a short term relationship. His wait was shortlived, for he found an equally short female. Their short relationship came to an end and they went separate ways.
While on a short walk, he came under a truck. He died on the spot. A short article tucked away in some corner on an obscure local newspaper made a mention of his death. His funeral also was very short, for he had no mourners.
The stroke of genius
This occurred to me while I was peeing in the 'hygienic', germ free, hazy(due to just then sprayed DDT to keep away the mosquitoes) bathroom. No, it was not in the bathroom. My next best idea will occur to me when I'll be peeing. This actually occurred to me while I was almost killed by an OPEL CORSA number GJ-5 PJ 5456!!. I know my death will come while crossing the road.
Pong was with me then. I asked him,"What's the most (ab)used line in personality contests?". Personality contests!, well there's another post waiting to be written on that, which again reminds me of Ram!. And Pong had some/no clue.It was 'IITIAM' or I think therefore I am. Poor Descartes must be turning in his grave! Then I told Pong something which would've made Descartes roll over 142 times in his grave. I told him-"My parents thought, therefore I am!". To which Pong replied-"My parents didn't think, therefore I am!" No offences Pong, but!!!:))
P.S Now you decide who's the bigger genius!!
Update 1: I stand vindicated in writing the previous post. We still haven't received the prize. And heard the prize money will be cut down.
Update 2: If you haven't watched Yahaan, hang yourself and ask your bhoot to watch it.Minissha(s,with that extra s)is so cute, ooeeemaa.
The 'short' story
His name was R.Ram. He was 5' tall. Like his name, his height was also very short. He used to cut his hair every fortnight, for he liked to keep it short. Hewas a good cricket player. While batting he used to despatch anything short, beyond the ropes. He was a brilliant fielder at short point, short fineleg and short mid-wicket bowling his main weapon was the shortpitched delivery which rose to an awkward height for the batsmen to tackle it. His memory lasted for a very short period, the time he spent in the exam hall was also very short it took a very short time for his teachers to correct his papers and he always fell short of the passing marks.
He was extremely short-tempered. His temper used to flare when his friends used to tease him for 'that thing' being short as well, owing to his short height. He used to get into serious fights over this. But, those fights were also shortlived for he lost due to his short stature deep inside he knew,'it' was indeed short.
When he was 18,he wanted a girlfriend. He wanted only a short term relationship. His wait was shortlived, for he found an equally short female. Their short relationship came to an end and they went separate ways.
While on a short walk, he came under a truck. He died on the spot. A short article tucked away in some corner on an obscure local newspaper made a mention of his death. His funeral also was very short, for he had no mourners.
The stroke of genius
This occurred to me while I was peeing in the 'hygienic', germ free, hazy(due to just then sprayed DDT to keep away the mosquitoes) bathroom. No, it was not in the bathroom. My next best idea will occur to me when I'll be peeing. This actually occurred to me while I was almost killed by an OPEL CORSA number GJ-5 PJ 5456!!. I know my death will come while crossing the road.
Pong was with me then. I asked him,"What's the most (ab)used line in personality contests?". Personality contests!, well there's another post waiting to be written on that, which again reminds me of Ram!. And Pong had some/no clue.It was 'IITIAM' or I think therefore I am. Poor Descartes must be turning in his grave! Then I told Pong something which would've made Descartes roll over 142 times in his grave. I told him-"My parents thought, therefore I am!". To which Pong replied-"My parents didn't think, therefore I am!" No offences Pong, but!!!:))
P.S Now you decide who's the bigger genius!!
Update 1: I stand vindicated in writing the previous post. We still haven't received the prize. And heard the prize money will be cut down.
Update 2: If you haven't watched Yahaan, hang yourself and ask your bhoot to watch it.Minissha(s,with that extra s)is so cute, ooeeemaa.
Monday, October 17, 2005
Nikhil ko thoda gussa kyon aata hai!!!
The test went o.k., for I had not studied at all.Then I come out of the test wondering why the hell were my classmates so tense about the test. And I'm not 'peeved' at all today, have calmed down.But since the following post was written yesterday with yours truly, squint in one eye due to the stye stressing his eyes to write it, and I didn't want it to go waste.
Nikhil ko thoda gussa kyon aata hai!!!
I'm really peeved today and Harsha has even a bigger reason to be peeved.There was an auto-fest in our college. so what? there was an auto-quiz in the autofest. so ? Me and Harsha won the quiz. ok,so? Dilip Chhabria was the chief guest.So? Winnners of all other events got to receive their prizes from the man himself or atleast had a photo receiving the prize with him in the background. So, my whine(call that if you may want it to) is that while others got to receive the prizes from him, why were we left out?
I don't know if that was deliberate on the part of the organisers to have conveniently run out of empty envelopes or was it because quizzing was considered too frivolous to be part of such an 'august' gathering. We didn't want the 'here-come-the-great-quizzers-of-all-time' kind of reception and the huge cheer and the hooting that usually follows when anyone among our group is on the stage. Have crossed that stage now! It's ok even if nobody reads this post! I hardly look for appreciation from all and sundry. But having come up with some seriously brilliant answers(no self adulation here, me and Harsha did come up some good ones-firewall,left hand drive to right hand drive, on bulldozer,Murphy,stuttgart and the horse connection- that won the quiz for us),I thought we deserved atleast some 1.2434 seconds on the stage for this quiz. That feeling of exalted elation on having worked out the Murphy question and the firewall one was something inexplicable, something which you won't understand unless you are a quizzer!Jumping out of the chair, the hi-five and the disbelief wondering what stroke of genius had struck us.I'm kinda hyper, so me doing it is ok, but when I see my brother in arms 'Power-e- illa!!' Harsha doing it, it's an unmistakable indication of us having done something really out of the ordinary.
In the end, I made a perfect jack-ass of myself when I asked one of the conveners if we are receiving the prizes, and then an announcement of the winners of the quiz is made after the vote of thanks! Couldn't have got more jack-assish than this, could I?! This post could have been laced with much more sarcasm if people whom we didn't know or we were not familiar with, had done this. But it does hurt when people who are close to you conveniently forget things.
Well, I've participated in all the quizzes conducted in the college and have qualified for the finals of almost all of them and won quite a few of them as well. But this wasn't just another quiz. You invite a profesional quiz-master, paying him a decent amount of cash. Initially, I was skeptic if he seriously deserved such a sum. But after the quiz, we have every reason to believe that he deserved all of it for the effort he put in to make the quiz interesting and at the same time putting in real good questions. I wouldn't be having any grouse if this was again one of those 'just another quiz' we have in the college.I haven't even bothered to get the certificates and prizes of those. The whole point here being, quizzing is seriously considered trivial and is given the go-by.
Quizzing is something which is more than a passion for me, and for Harsha as well. We've been partners in crime of having spent countless nights searching for silly trivia, talking for long hours about things which are of no concern to us at all, discussing things that would probably be of no use at all. Yet there's some inexplicable pleasure in knowing things which generally shouldn't be bothering us.There's a long long post waiting to be written about our quizzing exloits, the highs, the lows, the serious arguments almost leading to us not talking to each other for days!!, the 'sorry macha' for the wrong answer,University Challenge,CERN not getting us to the Mindbend quiz finals. Well,the list is endless. Our styles are complimentary,he's the quiet,reserved one while I'm the vociferous,noisy one.I've mellowed down though now,I guess. Our areas of interest are also complimentary. The best thing being , there's some sort of unstated understanding between us. All we do before a quiz is just inform each other of the timings and that 'connection' is somehow established during the course of the quiz.
I spend so much time on IMDB and Wikipedia, that if they would've been females, I'd be surely proposing to both of them.(Too difficult to choose, you see!). I think I know a thing or two about quizzing, for my quizzing credentials are decent enough and my knowledge of what I consider to be my strong areas- business,advertising, brands,politics, origins of names of brands and bands,bollywood and word etymologies, is also quite adequate. Rajiv Gandhi was offered the role played by the Big B in Bombay to Goa, imagine what'd have happened if he had accepted and played that role!!I'd have probably written this some 2145 times on my blog that I'd be better off studying Operating Systems,DBMS,Computer Networks than 'wasting' my time on 'silly' things like quizzing,blogging,debating. But that's ok now I guess.There's an O.S. test tomorrow. I was the only dumb-ass from my class(apart from Mrinabh!) running around quizzing,doing this and that.I have no idea of what I'm going to do in the test.I don't believe in doing things just because they are meant to be done. That might sound outlandish and arrogant,but that's what sets me apart from others.Hopefully,will continue blogging regularly from now on.
pre-P.s. In case you are still wondering why such a hue and cry over such an inconsequential thing as quizzing, sorry for you. That's something only a quizzer can understand.
What had i been doing all these days/what's been happening with me. not in chronological order.
1.Went to garba at the A.C dome, couldn't make it to the inDoor stadium.Garba rocks!Sad it's my last time.
2.Came third in an India Quiz, quite good considering mythology and stuff isn't our forte.
2.5 Was a witness to two farces called 'quizzes'. Schools have better stuff.One had a good-looking dumb female reading out questions correctly, the other had a ugly looking,boisterous male reading out questions incorrectly.
3.Won the debate with Hitesh at PT. It was great.We won according to the judges-'on account of better co-ordination'
4.Elections were held in the college. Internet and orkut became the latest weapon of mud-slinging.I was not involed. Mama became the GS and Hitesh, the CS. Some people had their faces deep in mud during the whole mud-slinging thing and it was sad.
5.Kashish- the official welcome for the first-yearites. Lacklustre and boring. Pandit's dance had many males and females drooling. No song dedicated to final yearites. So, we played senti-senti.Details of that to follow in coming posts.
6.Conducted a general quiz. My coming of age as a quizzer, I believe. It had no question from QFI,Quiznet or Kcircle.Fell in love with wikipedia and imdb during this.
7. My seminar on 'IT in rural development' went real well. That might just inspire to listen to 'the call of my heart' and do something for the community.
8.Sugar and Spice had 50% on the total bill.Treated people there.
9.Sugar and Spice had 'buy a burger and get the same free'. Got a treat there.Stomach upset followed
10.Listened to 'High Hopes' some 12084 times and 'Naam ada likhna' 32456 times.
11.The stye in my eye has been bothering me no ends and with that recurring headache with the viral infection doing the rounds in the college, I look like shukracharya, with one eye almost closed and also look like a prison escapee with the dishevelled hair and the strange look with one eye closed.
12. Harsha got placed in Godrej.ALL OF US ARE PLACED NOW.IBM,Cognizant, Wipro,Godrej,Sterlite beware!
12.25Haven't cut my hair for about three months now. Plans are to grow it even longer.Not finding a decent reason to cut my hair.
12.5 Watched around 20 movies.
13.Parents,sister,aunt and kid cousins had come to visit me.Took them around in the college.Surat is one hell of a place for textile-shopping.It can make you go insane.They were happy to know that I'm quite well-known in the college!
14.Yours truly along with Jayanth and Pragnya, as bloggers made it to the papers. TOI actually, its South Gujarat Edition.will take a photo of that and post.
15.Missed the treasure hunt as I was with my folks. Skunk said I din't really miss it!Me and Bharath have won it twice in the last three years.
16. Did the 'Bollywood Auto quiz!' for this Autofest.It's a real good one. Will post here if public demands.
17.Exhausted SMS worth Rs. 2000 in 20 days!Airtel Guj has this offer- sms worth 2000 for 100Rs.Have rechaged again if you want to be pestered with my PJs and live accounts of my labs,seminars and submissions, send me your number!
18.Followed thisregularly.What's your take on that?
Nikhil ko thoda gussa kyon aata hai!!!
I'm really peeved today and Harsha has even a bigger reason to be peeved.There was an auto-fest in our college. so what? there was an auto-quiz in the autofest. so ? Me and Harsha won the quiz. ok,so? Dilip Chhabria was the chief guest.So? Winnners of all other events got to receive their prizes from the man himself or atleast had a photo receiving the prize with him in the background. So, my whine(call that if you may want it to) is that while others got to receive the prizes from him, why were we left out?
I don't know if that was deliberate on the part of the organisers to have conveniently run out of empty envelopes or was it because quizzing was considered too frivolous to be part of such an 'august' gathering. We didn't want the 'here-come-the-great-quizzers-of-all-time' kind of reception and the huge cheer and the hooting that usually follows when anyone among our group is on the stage. Have crossed that stage now! It's ok even if nobody reads this post! I hardly look for appreciation from all and sundry. But having come up with some seriously brilliant answers(no self adulation here, me and Harsha did come up some good ones-firewall,left hand drive to right hand drive, on bulldozer,Murphy,stuttgart and the horse connection- that won the quiz for us),I thought we deserved atleast some 1.2434 seconds on the stage for this quiz. That feeling of exalted elation on having worked out the Murphy question and the firewall one was something inexplicable, something which you won't understand unless you are a quizzer!Jumping out of the chair, the hi-five and the disbelief wondering what stroke of genius had struck us.I'm kinda hyper, so me doing it is ok, but when I see my brother in arms 'Power-e- illa!!' Harsha doing it, it's an unmistakable indication of us having done something really out of the ordinary.
In the end, I made a perfect jack-ass of myself when I asked one of the conveners if we are receiving the prizes, and then an announcement of the winners of the quiz is made after the vote of thanks! Couldn't have got more jack-assish than this, could I?! This post could have been laced with much more sarcasm if people whom we didn't know or we were not familiar with, had done this. But it does hurt when people who are close to you conveniently forget things.
Well, I've participated in all the quizzes conducted in the college and have qualified for the finals of almost all of them and won quite a few of them as well. But this wasn't just another quiz. You invite a profesional quiz-master, paying him a decent amount of cash. Initially, I was skeptic if he seriously deserved such a sum. But after the quiz, we have every reason to believe that he deserved all of it for the effort he put in to make the quiz interesting and at the same time putting in real good questions. I wouldn't be having any grouse if this was again one of those 'just another quiz' we have in the college.I haven't even bothered to get the certificates and prizes of those. The whole point here being, quizzing is seriously considered trivial and is given the go-by.
Quizzing is something which is more than a passion for me, and for Harsha as well. We've been partners in crime of having spent countless nights searching for silly trivia, talking for long hours about things which are of no concern to us at all, discussing things that would probably be of no use at all. Yet there's some inexplicable pleasure in knowing things which generally shouldn't be bothering us.There's a long long post waiting to be written about our quizzing exloits, the highs, the lows, the serious arguments almost leading to us not talking to each other for days!!, the 'sorry macha' for the wrong answer,University Challenge,CERN not getting us to the Mindbend quiz finals. Well,the list is endless. Our styles are complimentary,he's the quiet,reserved one while I'm the vociferous,noisy one.I've mellowed down though now,I guess. Our areas of interest are also complimentary. The best thing being , there's some sort of unstated understanding between us. All we do before a quiz is just inform each other of the timings and that 'connection' is somehow established during the course of the quiz.
I spend so much time on IMDB and Wikipedia, that if they would've been females, I'd be surely proposing to both of them.(Too difficult to choose, you see!). I think I know a thing or two about quizzing, for my quizzing credentials are decent enough and my knowledge of what I consider to be my strong areas- business,advertising, brands,politics, origins of names of brands and bands,bollywood and word etymologies, is also quite adequate. Rajiv Gandhi was offered the role played by the Big B in Bombay to Goa, imagine what'd have happened if he had accepted and played that role!!I'd have probably written this some 2145 times on my blog that I'd be better off studying Operating Systems,DBMS,Computer Networks than 'wasting' my time on 'silly' things like quizzing,blogging,debating. But that's ok now I guess.There's an O.S. test tomorrow. I was the only dumb-ass from my class(apart from Mrinabh!) running around quizzing,doing this and that.I have no idea of what I'm going to do in the test.I don't believe in doing things just because they are meant to be done. That might sound outlandish and arrogant,but that's what sets me apart from others.Hopefully,will continue blogging regularly from now on.
pre-P.s. In case you are still wondering why such a hue and cry over such an inconsequential thing as quizzing, sorry for you. That's something only a quizzer can understand.
What had i been doing all these days/what's been happening with me. not in chronological order.
1.Went to garba at the A.C dome, couldn't make it to the inDoor stadium.Garba rocks!Sad it's my last time.
2.Came third in an India Quiz, quite good considering mythology and stuff isn't our forte.
2.5 Was a witness to two farces called 'quizzes'. Schools have better stuff.One had a good-looking dumb female reading out questions correctly, the other had a ugly looking,boisterous male reading out questions incorrectly.
3.Won the debate with Hitesh at PT. It was great.We won according to the judges-'on account of better co-ordination'
4.Elections were held in the college. Internet and orkut became the latest weapon of mud-slinging.I was not involed. Mama became the GS and Hitesh, the CS. Some people had their faces deep in mud during the whole mud-slinging thing and it was sad.
5.Kashish- the official welcome for the first-yearites. Lacklustre and boring. Pandit's dance had many males and females drooling. No song dedicated to final yearites. So, we played senti-senti.Details of that to follow in coming posts.
6.Conducted a general quiz. My coming of age as a quizzer, I believe. It had no question from QFI,Quiznet or Kcircle.Fell in love with wikipedia and imdb during this.
7. My seminar on 'IT in rural development' went real well. That might just inspire to listen to 'the call of my heart' and do something for the community.
8.Sugar and Spice had 50% on the total bill.Treated people there.
9.Sugar and Spice had 'buy a burger and get the same free'. Got a treat there.Stomach upset followed
10.Listened to 'High Hopes' some 12084 times and 'Naam ada likhna' 32456 times.
11.The stye in my eye has been bothering me no ends and with that recurring headache with the viral infection doing the rounds in the college, I look like shukracharya, with one eye almost closed and also look like a prison escapee with the dishevelled hair and the strange look with one eye closed.
12. Harsha got placed in Godrej.ALL OF US ARE PLACED NOW.IBM,Cognizant, Wipro,Godrej,Sterlite beware!
12.25Haven't cut my hair for about three months now. Plans are to grow it even longer.Not finding a decent reason to cut my hair.
12.5 Watched around 20 movies.
13.Parents,sister,aunt and kid cousins had come to visit me.Took them around in the college.Surat is one hell of a place for textile-shopping.It can make you go insane.They were happy to know that I'm quite well-known in the college!
14.Yours truly along with Jayanth and Pragnya, as bloggers made it to the papers. TOI actually, its South Gujarat Edition.will take a photo of that and post.
15.Missed the treasure hunt as I was with my folks. Skunk said I din't really miss it!Me and Bharath have won it twice in the last three years.
16. Did the 'Bollywood Auto quiz!' for this Autofest.It's a real good one. Will post here if public demands.
17.Exhausted SMS worth Rs. 2000 in 20 days!Airtel Guj has this offer- sms worth 2000 for 100Rs.Have rechaged again if you want to be pestered with my PJs and live accounts of my labs,seminars and submissions, send me your number!
18.Followed thisregularly.What's your take on that?
Sunday, September 25, 2005
Back with 'back again'!
I'm back after exorcising some demons inside my head. I'm feeling much better now having accomplished that, and what makes me more glad is that I did it all alone. I went to some people looking for answers and realised most of them lay within me. Realsied that running behind/with the crowd just doesn't help in my case. There are some inherent 'quirks?' and inexplicble contradictions which only I possess and there are some things which I do and have perfect explanations which appear totally convincing to me and I guess that is what matters most at the end of the day. Raghuram has more faith in me than I do and it is vice versa I guess!
Expect more of such philo'soupy' in coming posts!!
Hope the purgation is successful.I realised that there's no point geting stuck in a hole and then complain, crib about how things are not going on well. The best way to come out of the hole, I thought was to attend some classes and resume the old routine of writing poems sitting in the last bench, with the teacher wondering as to why am I the only one taking down notes. I finished the book that I was writing my 'class notes' since third year and had to borrow a page from Lakshman to write this poem.
Geometry of life
They say life comes a full circle, but why is it that,
I feel like it’s back to square one,
When what I’ve been through is just a semicircle.
Yet they say, angle in a semicircle is a right angle!
You and your goals become parallel lines,
You’re stuck in a maze as complicated as a dodecahedron.
Life goes into the third quadrant and people suddenly become obtuse
Your sorry state turns more acute and the cylindrical cup of woes overflows.
You pause and reflect, wondering why
The angle of incidence is not equal to the angle of reflection.
And realize that life isn’t governed by laws of Euclid or Euler.
That there are paths longer than the hypotenuse, and shorter than the diagonal.
You feel you are living on the edge,
Length breadth and height of desperation threatening to multiply,
You sit back, contemplate and analyze your graph
And then that diminishing flicker lost in some vertex of your heart,
Tells you to look at life as a trapezium.
Hope and faith the parallel sides, always running along.
All you need to do extend the non-parallel ones,
And don’t they meet, that extension needing tonnes of patience and hard work.
So clear your mind, start from the base and work your ass off!!
- Nikhil
23/09/05
Expect more of such philo'soupy' in coming posts!!
Hope the purgation is successful.I realised that there's no point geting stuck in a hole and then complain, crib about how things are not going on well. The best way to come out of the hole, I thought was to attend some classes and resume the old routine of writing poems sitting in the last bench, with the teacher wondering as to why am I the only one taking down notes. I finished the book that I was writing my 'class notes' since third year and had to borrow a page from Lakshman to write this poem.
Geometry of life
They say life comes a full circle, but why is it that,
I feel like it’s back to square one,
When what I’ve been through is just a semicircle.
Yet they say, angle in a semicircle is a right angle!
You and your goals become parallel lines,
You’re stuck in a maze as complicated as a dodecahedron.
Life goes into the third quadrant and people suddenly become obtuse
Your sorry state turns more acute and the cylindrical cup of woes overflows.
You pause and reflect, wondering why
The angle of incidence is not equal to the angle of reflection.
And realize that life isn’t governed by laws of Euclid or Euler.
That there are paths longer than the hypotenuse, and shorter than the diagonal.
You feel you are living on the edge,
Length breadth and height of desperation threatening to multiply,
You sit back, contemplate and analyze your graph
And then that diminishing flicker lost in some vertex of your heart,
Tells you to look at life as a trapezium.
Hope and faith the parallel sides, always running along.
All you need to do extend the non-parallel ones,
And don’t they meet, that extension needing tonnes of patience and hard work.
So clear your mind, start from the base and work your ass off!!
- Nikhil
23/09/05
Saturday, September 10, 2005
a Kit-Kat break
I am completely lost for words. The earlier enthu for writing is longer there. Need to get serious on certain things, and even if i don't want to,am having to spend less time of some things quite close to my heart(enough of listening to my heart, my mind tells me), blogging for example. I seriously don't know why has this numb feeling overpowered me and I know I'll overcome it and be 'normal' again cracking pathetic PJs, rubbing people the wrong way with my stupid posts, coming up with those silly poems and stories written sitting in the last bench with some sensible posts interspersed here and there.
Thankfully Bharath has a digicam and Mrinabh, a mobile cam. That means my photoblog will be updated regularly. Keep visiting that. But I just can't conjure up enough energy and brains to write though there is no dearth of subjects that I can write on. The photoblog will be running though.
No time to search the world around
Cause you know where I'll be found
When I come around
When I come around
-When I Come Around(Green Day)
In the meanwhile discovered some more bloggers, want to add their blog links in the links section, make my blog look nicer..but just can't..the numb feeling you see..
Shayon- my-labyrinth.blogspot.com
Komal- meriawazuno.blogspot.com-do visit her blog for her story of the deluge in mumbai.
A fellow quizzer, UC participant-Almost useless!- lifesucz.blogspot.com
and page 3 of blogging...meet rahul bose, deepak chopra, mallika chopra, rahul khanna, nandita das,shekhar kapur, anupam kher, milind deora, vandana shiva,kanika chopra and many more on intentblog.com
till my next post
nikhil
Thankfully Bharath has a digicam and Mrinabh, a mobile cam. That means my photoblog will be updated regularly. Keep visiting that. But I just can't conjure up enough energy and brains to write though there is no dearth of subjects that I can write on. The photoblog will be running though.
No time to search the world around
Cause you know where I'll be found
When I come around
When I come around
-When I Come Around(Green Day)
In the meanwhile discovered some more bloggers, want to add their blog links in the links section, make my blog look nicer..but just can't..the numb feeling you see..
Shayon- my-labyrinth.blogspot.com
Komal- meriawazuno.blogspot.com-do visit her blog for her story of the deluge in mumbai.
A fellow quizzer, UC participant-Almost useless!- lifesucz.blogspot.com
and page 3 of blogging...meet rahul bose, deepak chopra, mallika chopra, rahul khanna, nandita das,shekhar kapur, anupam kher, milind deora, vandana shiva,kanika chopra and many more on intentblog.com
till my next post
nikhil
Monday, September 5, 2005
The battle heats up-Microsoft CEO: 'I'm going to f---ing kill Google'
my shift key has a problem, so no 'capitalised'(exactly..that's what one of our teachers said..all keywords in java should begin with 'capitalised')letters and my mind's not working. i donno the reason. is it because of the excess of movies that i'm watching or is it because i'm attending more classes this time!
continuing on the google-ms war, here's a piece i stumbled across on slashdot. it is a great site for people who are intersted in tech-trivia. they call it a site for nerds and i don't quite consider myself to be one. reminds me of one funny incident though. microsoft came calling to our campus for recruitment and i thought my knowledge of msn spaces, the mappoint technolgy would be of some help. and as it turned out i failed to clear the 'written' test which was quite 'technical'. that's ok as i don't quite fancy my chances with things 'technical'. but what amazed me was that even in the interviews that followed, there was not even a single 'hr' question. it was pointers, arrays, data structures, algorithms, compilers all the way. and this idiot thought his hours of meandering around the world wide web would be of some help! how naive of me! sometimes i feel i should have drowned in object oriented programming than spend time deriding bush's objective of occupying iraq. but surprisingly, when pause for a moment,i don't repent what i did! thinking that that one hour test would have made a difference of around 3.5 lacs to my annual salary!!was just wondering what makes the differnce? that duration of one hour of the test or the 'wasted years' (that's also the song playing rt now!, how ironic!!!..f*&k..the song is by iron maiden!!now my mind's working!!). to me it was that one hour that made the difference. my thoughts on placements din't go down well with many people here(like most of my thoughts!). and i hate to talk/write about placements, but couldn't miss this one as it was about ms.congrats siddharth!
google is also planning to come out with an operating system to challenge windows.
(writing 'remember i told you this first' sounds like crap to me now!!)let's see.
will post a list of movies/books that i've drowned in of late. talking of movies, am planning to start a blog on the 'other bollywood' ,the sensible indian cinema, indian movies in english, not the american desi, chai types...my gyaan of such movies is decent enough...and want to 'specialise' in that.just like my photoblog on hoardings, posters and notices!
if anybody can get their hands on cds of the following please write them for me. all freight charges will be borne by me.
war and peace- anand ptwardhan
matrubhoomi- manish jha
is raat ki subah nahin- sudhir mishra
black friday-anurag kashyap
continuing on the google-ms war, here's a piece i stumbled across on slashdot. it is a great site for people who are intersted in tech-trivia. they call it a site for nerds and i don't quite consider myself to be one. reminds me of one funny incident though. microsoft came calling to our campus for recruitment and i thought my knowledge of msn spaces, the mappoint technolgy would be of some help. and as it turned out i failed to clear the 'written' test which was quite 'technical'. that's ok as i don't quite fancy my chances with things 'technical'. but what amazed me was that even in the interviews that followed, there was not even a single 'hr' question. it was pointers, arrays, data structures, algorithms, compilers all the way. and this idiot thought his hours of meandering around the world wide web would be of some help! how naive of me! sometimes i feel i should have drowned in object oriented programming than spend time deriding bush's objective of occupying iraq. but surprisingly, when pause for a moment,i don't repent what i did! thinking that that one hour test would have made a difference of around 3.5 lacs to my annual salary!!was just wondering what makes the differnce? that duration of one hour of the test or the 'wasted years' (that's also the song playing rt now!, how ironic!!!..f*&k..the song is by iron maiden!!now my mind's working!!). to me it was that one hour that made the difference. my thoughts on placements din't go down well with many people here(like most of my thoughts!). and i hate to talk/write about placements, but couldn't miss this one as it was about ms.congrats siddharth!
google is also planning to come out with an operating system to challenge windows.
(writing 'remember i told you this first' sounds like crap to me now!!)let's see.
will post a list of movies/books that i've drowned in of late. talking of movies, am planning to start a blog on the 'other bollywood' ,the sensible indian cinema, indian movies in english, not the american desi, chai types...my gyaan of such movies is decent enough...and want to 'specialise' in that.just like my photoblog on hoardings, posters and notices!
if anybody can get their hands on cds of the following please write them for me. all freight charges will be borne by me.
war and peace- anand ptwardhan
matrubhoomi- manish jha
is raat ki subah nahin- sudhir mishra
black friday-anurag kashyap
Thursday, September 1, 2005
A trip to 'shanivari'
I guess every city of has its own 'bazaars', 'markets' or 'shanivaris' as we have in Surat, where you get everything you'd need from soaps,deodorants,screw drivers,all kinds of apparel, cds cassettes at throw away prices and the rest you see in the pictures to follow. A very good timepass on a lazy saturday afternoon. Have heard that you get real good bargains early in the morning, but who wants to wake up early on a saturday morning!
Sunday, August 28, 2005
My photoblog
Am starting a photoblog. Have named it 'eye5'. I already have four eyes. The camera's is my fifth eye. Instead of posting pictures of what I'm doing, my hostel room, the fun that we guys have, I've decided to post pictures of hoardings and signboards which I come across. Being in Gujarat, goof-ups in spellings are not hard to find, even otherwise if a picture can be worth thousand words, a hoarding or a signboard is worth more than that!. It is Bharath's camera though. Hope to post atleast one picure a day.Here it is Enjoy!
Thursday, August 25, 2005
What happens when you dream and grow 'big'
THIS
Will come back with another post soon...i see less people coming to my blog these days..what's (not) happening????!!!!!
Will come back with another post soon...i see less people coming to my blog these days..what's (not) happening????!!!!!
Sunday, August 14, 2005
Rendezvous with someone 'special'
It was sometime between 2:30 and 3 in the night. I was dead tired the previous night and tiny crackers were bursting in my head. I somehow managed to fall asleep(how does it matter if I was still with the same jeans,T-shirt and shoes since morning and didnot bother to take them off,how does it matter if the fan was running full speed and the door was wide open?!)
Suddenly everything was hazy. The sweet fragrance of Cycle Brand 3-in-1 incense sticks permeated my room.Strains of veena and the chanting of 'OM' could be heard in the background.The chants were getting clearer now. And then there was this single beam of blue light emerging through the balcony door. The whole thing was getting eerie.Before I could even think what the whole thing could be, this guy with his hair rolled into a bun appeared out of nowhere. For a moment though, I wonder if it was Shashank playing a prank on me.
I start scanning him with the bottom-up approach followed in hindi movies.How many times have we not seen the hero and the heroine make that typical 'entry'. The hero- start with the shining black shoes a tight black pant, a broad jet black belt with a gold buckle, a black leather jacket open at the front , a T-shirt with a 'puchline', accentuating his abs, and to 'top' to it all, a black helmet out of which emerges our kinght in the 'shining' armour(literally!).Sometimes some great directors like Vikram Bhatt get better of you and instead of the hero it's the heroine. Remember Rani's entree in Ghulam??. But the heroines' entry is sedate and marked by a degree of authority as most movies have the usual rich boy- meets -poor girl-love- father, also the villian -opposes- love wins in the end storyline. She steps out of the Merc, left leg first,ceramic white high-heeled sandals,(legs cleanly 'veet'-waxed!), stockings if she's to be shown as ultra-rich, and then as the camera starts moving up her leg the audiences' pulses begin to zoom up like the BSE sensex and threatens to cross all barriers, the skirt appears where the knee ends and then a 'correction' takes place with a large collective heave from the audience.Then there's nothing much at the top( to see ) because it is fully covered!She gets down from the car, takes off her goggles and then turns around with her 'sunsilk'y her covering the entire screen and her face as well. The repetitive shots of her Fair and Lovely face get lost amidst the shrill whistles and catcalls of the 'hungry' audience.
Now I become the hindi movie cameraman. His toes are as dirtier than mine and it appears as though he's walked quite a distance on the rain-soaked roads of Surat, his legs hairy as any normal male!, and when I don't see any signs of clothing as I move up his legs,it starts to get uncomfortable. More than assuaging this feeling of annoying discomfort, the piece of tiger skin draped his thighs scares me no ends. There's no sign any clothing as I move the 'camera' upwards except for large rosary around his neck which laters occurs to me that it's called 'Rudraksha'(which again reminds me of a horri(bheja-f(r))ying Hindi movie by the same name). His neck had a
bluish patch as if he had a bad throat(aggravated by those wicked khich-khich causing agents!) and needs Vicks urgently. His face was the most striking feature. There was something about this face. Something powerful, something enigmatic. What heightened my astonished state of misery was that I-know-it-all smile on his face. The trishul in his hand made me wonder if he was a Bajrang Dal activist. For five minutes he stands there akin to a statue at the Tussade's and I do nothing but stare at him. Just as I recover and am about to yell out aking him if that was some kind of a practical joke, he broke his smile and with a calm soothing voice called out - "Vaths!". Before I could ask him if he was Shiva- The God, the smile reappeared on his face and he said-"Yes, I am". It was Bruce Almighty redux. Not wanting to be the fool that Bruce Nolanwas in that movie, I let God do the talking!(At the back of my mind, I thought Ramanand Sagar had indeed got it right, Gods do address others as Vaths, even the costumes were accurate to the minutest of the details.
He parks his trishul in a corner, but it falls down. While he's picking it up, I restist the temptation to break out into a giggle which I do whenever the teacher drops the teacher in the class. He replaces the trishul and clasps his hands indicating he means business. I sense he's looking for a place to sit down and I quickly clear the pile of clothes on my chair and dump them in my cup-board. He's certainly out of sorts in DF-7 hostel-6 NIT,Surat far removed from the serene, calm environs of Kailash mountains.
Unmindful of this, he begins."So, do you know John Barry Adams?.He lived in the UK between 1863 and 1927. 5' 8", 73 kgs,comlete family man. Wife and two children. Achieved nothing great in life.Ended up as just another statistic in the register at the city council of Yorkshire."
I just parted my lips and there he went-"Yes, I do know English.Had to learn it with many Hindus praying to me in English. Globalisation, you see!"
I was left wondering why did God 'appear' to talk to me about some good-for-nothing John Barry Adams.He then smiled looking at puzzled look on my face - "No, don't do that with atleast me right infront of you" and this left me with no doubt that it was indeed God infrontof me.What exactly was going through my mind was-"How the *&%^ does this John Barry Adams matterto me now?" and he being God himself couldn't have missed it!.And added-"By the way, you were John Barry Adams in your previous birth.
The puzzled look still continued to be there while he carried on-"Well it was quite disturbing to see you curse me for the last few days and that last outburst of yours was very very unsettling. So I was quite upset with you and ran a check on your antecedents andfound out that there was a mistake on our database. it was found out that John Barry Adams had killed 768 ants more than we'd thought initially. So, to account for that, I had to punish you over the last week.That is wh`y your computer's RAM crashed,your keyboard stopped working, your specs broke, the tube-light in your room hasn't been working since the last 3 days and you had a stye in your eyes. I delayed your specs getting repaired for that outburst. But I found you worrying too much over such small matters,you have bigger things to worry and think aboutin your life.As they say, stop making a mountain of an mole-hill,learnt this idiom recently".
And then he walked away calmly out of my room, the crescent at the back of the bun on his hair clearly visible as was the spring where Ganga originates.Ramanand Sagar got this one wrong though. Gods just don't disappear, they silently walk away!
God was perhaps right.I have better things to worry about.Maybe I should worry if I have to attend the first class tomorrow having been up so late to write this, worry if with the last ten rupee note left in my pocket I should go to the canteen and have samosa and tea or go the gateand have vada-pav and sugarcane juice during the break, or maybe worry if i should clean my room after two months or two months and one day.
Yes,God was right.How does it matter if there was a stye in my eye and I don't have my specs for three days and I have to bunk two labs for that,how does it matter if my RAM crashes and keyboard stops working and that my room is without a tube-light for the last three days.C'mon God, small things?.you must be kidding!
P.S. It's been 4 days since I wrote this. My room is still without tube-light. The new keyboard I bought is giving problems and adding to the never-ending list of woes, my CD-ROM drive stopped working suddenly yesterday. And to my surprise, I'm not cribbing or complaining about what's happening to me. I'm currently flowing with
The Last Song of Dusk. Will try and post the review.
Suddenly everything was hazy. The sweet fragrance of Cycle Brand 3-in-1 incense sticks permeated my room.Strains of veena and the chanting of 'OM' could be heard in the background.The chants were getting clearer now. And then there was this single beam of blue light emerging through the balcony door. The whole thing was getting eerie.Before I could even think what the whole thing could be, this guy with his hair rolled into a bun appeared out of nowhere. For a moment though, I wonder if it was Shashank playing a prank on me.
I start scanning him with the bottom-up approach followed in hindi movies.How many times have we not seen the hero and the heroine make that typical 'entry'. The hero- start with the shining black shoes a tight black pant, a broad jet black belt with a gold buckle, a black leather jacket open at the front , a T-shirt with a 'puchline', accentuating his abs, and to 'top' to it all, a black helmet out of which emerges our kinght in the 'shining' armour(literally!).Sometimes some great directors like Vikram Bhatt get better of you and instead of the hero it's the heroine. Remember Rani's entree in Ghulam??. But the heroines' entry is sedate and marked by a degree of authority as most movies have the usual rich boy- meets -poor girl-love- father, also the villian -opposes- love wins in the end storyline. She steps out of the Merc, left leg first,ceramic white high-heeled sandals,(legs cleanly 'veet'-waxed!), stockings if she's to be shown as ultra-rich, and then as the camera starts moving up her leg the audiences' pulses begin to zoom up like the BSE sensex and threatens to cross all barriers, the skirt appears where the knee ends and then a 'correction' takes place with a large collective heave from the audience.Then there's nothing much at the top( to see ) because it is fully covered!She gets down from the car, takes off her goggles and then turns around with her 'sunsilk'y her covering the entire screen and her face as well. The repetitive shots of her Fair and Lovely face get lost amidst the shrill whistles and catcalls of the 'hungry' audience.
Now I become the hindi movie cameraman. His toes are as dirtier than mine and it appears as though he's walked quite a distance on the rain-soaked roads of Surat, his legs hairy as any normal male!, and when I don't see any signs of clothing as I move up his legs,it starts to get uncomfortable. More than assuaging this feeling of annoying discomfort, the piece of tiger skin draped his thighs scares me no ends. There's no sign any clothing as I move the 'camera' upwards except for large rosary around his neck which laters occurs to me that it's called 'Rudraksha'(which again reminds me of a horri(bheja-f(r))ying Hindi movie by the same name). His neck had a
bluish patch as if he had a bad throat(aggravated by those wicked khich-khich causing agents!) and needs Vicks urgently. His face was the most striking feature. There was something about this face. Something powerful, something enigmatic. What heightened my astonished state of misery was that I-know-it-all smile on his face. The trishul in his hand made me wonder if he was a Bajrang Dal activist. For five minutes he stands there akin to a statue at the Tussade's and I do nothing but stare at him. Just as I recover and am about to yell out aking him if that was some kind of a practical joke, he broke his smile and with a calm soothing voice called out - "Vaths!". Before I could ask him if he was Shiva- The God, the smile reappeared on his face and he said-"Yes, I am". It was Bruce Almighty redux. Not wanting to be the fool that Bruce Nolanwas in that movie, I let God do the talking!(At the back of my mind, I thought Ramanand Sagar had indeed got it right, Gods do address others as Vaths, even the costumes were accurate to the minutest of the details.
He parks his trishul in a corner, but it falls down. While he's picking it up, I restist the temptation to break out into a giggle which I do whenever the teacher drops the teacher in the class. He replaces the trishul and clasps his hands indicating he means business. I sense he's looking for a place to sit down and I quickly clear the pile of clothes on my chair and dump them in my cup-board. He's certainly out of sorts in DF-7 hostel-6 NIT,Surat far removed from the serene, calm environs of Kailash mountains.
Unmindful of this, he begins."So, do you know John Barry Adams?.He lived in the UK between 1863 and 1927. 5' 8", 73 kgs,comlete family man. Wife and two children. Achieved nothing great in life.Ended up as just another statistic in the register at the city council of Yorkshire."
I just parted my lips and there he went-"Yes, I do know English.Had to learn it with many Hindus praying to me in English. Globalisation, you see!"
I was left wondering why did God 'appear' to talk to me about some good-for-nothing John Barry Adams.He then smiled looking at puzzled look on my face - "No, don't do that with atleast me right infront of you" and this left me with no doubt that it was indeed God infrontof me.What exactly was going through my mind was-"How the *&%^ does this John Barry Adams matterto me now?" and he being God himself couldn't have missed it!.And added-"By the way, you were John Barry Adams in your previous birth.
The puzzled look still continued to be there while he carried on-"Well it was quite disturbing to see you curse me for the last few days and that last outburst of yours was very very unsettling. So I was quite upset with you and ran a check on your antecedents andfound out that there was a mistake on our database. it was found out that John Barry Adams had killed 768 ants more than we'd thought initially. So, to account for that, I had to punish you over the last week.That is wh`y your computer's RAM crashed,your keyboard stopped working, your specs broke, the tube-light in your room hasn't been working since the last 3 days and you had a stye in your eyes. I delayed your specs getting repaired for that outburst. But I found you worrying too much over such small matters,you have bigger things to worry and think aboutin your life.As they say, stop making a mountain of an mole-hill,learnt this idiom recently".
And then he walked away calmly out of my room, the crescent at the back of the bun on his hair clearly visible as was the spring where Ganga originates.Ramanand Sagar got this one wrong though. Gods just don't disappear, they silently walk away!
God was perhaps right.I have better things to worry about.Maybe I should worry if I have to attend the first class tomorrow having been up so late to write this, worry if with the last ten rupee note left in my pocket I should go to the canteen and have samosa and tea or go the gateand have vada-pav and sugarcane juice during the break, or maybe worry if i should clean my room after two months or two months and one day.
Yes,God was right.How does it matter if there was a stye in my eye and I don't have my specs for three days and I have to bunk two labs for that,how does it matter if my RAM crashes and keyboard stops working and that my room is without a tube-light for the last three days.C'mon God, small things?.you must be kidding!
P.S. It's been 4 days since I wrote this. My room is still without tube-light. The new keyboard I bought is giving problems and adding to the never-ending list of woes, my CD-ROM drive stopped working suddenly yesterday. And to my surprise, I'm not cribbing or complaining about what's happening to me. I'm currently flowing with
The Last Song of Dusk. Will try and post the review.
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Such a long journey!!
It's been (only?) about 15 days since I last posted. To say the least, my experiences in the last fortnight have only made me more philosophical and it seems to me as though those were not 15 days that passed by, but 15 years. I also happened to meet 'someone special' during this period. The post is ready, waiting to be posted. Once we get net in our rooms, which'll hopefully happen in the next 2-3 days, I'll put up the post.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
'RAM' naam satya hai
Back in Surat.
My Comp's RAM ran out of ideas, so it crashed.
Final year is no different- SSDD
It was too hot a few days back,looks like it'll rain cats and dogs now.(hope it does)
No net in the hostel as of yet, so blogging can wait!
Till then enjoyThis
Feels good to be back though.
My Comp's RAM ran out of ideas, so it crashed.
Final year is no different- SSDD
It was too hot a few days back,looks like it'll rain cats and dogs now.(hope it does)
No net in the hostel as of yet, so blogging can wait!
Till then enjoyThis
Feels good to be back though.
Friday, July 1, 2005
'Design's for my vacations!!
So, here I am at Ray and Keshavan in Bangalore. And I am here as a 'trainee'. What is an engineering student doing here??. That's one question that I've faced something like 2,354 times and unlike each time I've been patient enough to answer this question. I've been interested in media,TV,newspapers, advertising and related fields. So, I thought it'd be good for me to pick up something new and interesting during these vacations. This is in no way related to #include or MOV A,B or compilers or the stuff that we are taught in the class, the knowledge of what goes on here would do me no harm. So, is R&K an ad agency?. NO, it is not an ad agency, it is a DESIGN agency. Now that I'm going to spend some time here, in my subsequent posts, I'll write about how design is different from advertising and the interesting people here starting from today.
Sitting beside me here is Vikrant(Vikivix). Vijay(about whom another long post is waiting to be written) tells me Vikrant's a genius. I couldn't agree more(As I write this Vikrant's so immersed, he's not aware that I'm writing about him!). He's got a blog too. Here and His Homepage. He's also 'The Computer Person' at R&K fixing everything from the network problems to maintaining the websites of clients. I just now asked him for an 'interview' and he's busy!!.Will keep nagging him and will know more about him and post.
Though I've never spent so much time in an 'office'.(The last thing I remember is going to my father's office as a kid and 'spending time there' when his colleagues would get me lots of chocolates!), R&K is unlike any other 'office',it doesn't even look like one from outside!! The atmosphere is very informal, no 'Sir' or 'madam', sharing each other's lunch and with music in the background, one couldn't have asked for a better 'workplace'!!But, with all the 'informality', it is serious work that goes on here. Guru has travelled a lot doing research on a major confectionery company which has come to R&K to help them with newer design to boost their flagging sales. Am currently with Guru doing a bit of research, a bit of searching,a bit of surfing and a bit of chatting!! But am getting to learn so many things here. How will all this help me?? Only time will tell. But as now am enjoying it.
Plans to watch Sarkar(We have a girl Sarkar though in our college!!) with Ram and the rest of our group today.
So, it's Nikhil (de)signing off from R&K with Guru,Vikivix,Vijay, Anjali and Kirti in the 'happening' room!. More on others in the 'serious' room in subsequent posts.
P.S. I have plans to go for higher studies- Final Year of Computer Engineering at NIT.Surat!!
Sitting beside me here is Vikrant(Vikivix). Vijay(about whom another long post is waiting to be written) tells me Vikrant's a genius. I couldn't agree more(As I write this Vikrant's so immersed, he's not aware that I'm writing about him!). He's got a blog too. Here and His Homepage. He's also 'The Computer Person' at R&K fixing everything from the network problems to maintaining the websites of clients. I just now asked him for an 'interview' and he's busy!!.Will keep nagging him and will know more about him and post.
Though I've never spent so much time in an 'office'.(The last thing I remember is going to my father's office as a kid and 'spending time there' when his colleagues would get me lots of chocolates!), R&K is unlike any other 'office',it doesn't even look like one from outside!! The atmosphere is very informal, no 'Sir' or 'madam', sharing each other's lunch and with music in the background, one couldn't have asked for a better 'workplace'!!But, with all the 'informality', it is serious work that goes on here. Guru has travelled a lot doing research on a major confectionery company which has come to R&K to help them with newer design to boost their flagging sales. Am currently with Guru doing a bit of research, a bit of searching,a bit of surfing and a bit of chatting!! But am getting to learn so many things here. How will all this help me?? Only time will tell. But as now am enjoying it.
Plans to watch Sarkar(We have a girl Sarkar though in our college!!) with Ram and the rest of our group today.
So, it's Nikhil (de)signing off from R&K with Guru,Vikivix,Vijay, Anjali and Kirti in the 'happening' room!. More on others in the 'serious' room in subsequent posts.
P.S. I have plans to go for higher studies- Final Year of Computer Engineering at NIT.Surat!!
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
A 'local' take on Globalisation-Another 'article'
Looks like I've taken the freelancing thing a bit too seriously. As it appears the article on Gujjus and engineering was well recd. So here's the second article for YUVA on globalisation...Kroopa and Niki find a mention!!
MS word dick-shun-aree doesn't have blog in it!!!SAD
It is raining heavily here and posting this itself takes 30 minutes!
A ‘local’ take on globalization
This article was probably born the day the Pope died!! .The 23 minute long conversation over the phone I had with a friend of mine working with a call-center handling the transactions of a multinational bank left me with no doubt that globalization is a reality and has become an inseparable part of our lives. Here’s why :- When the Vatican was flooded with mourners from all over the globe, my friend was flooded with calls by frenzied callers from the Vatican asking for their credit limit to be raised or better still, that transactions on their cards be barred because their cards had been stolen(even in the Vatican?!!!) And when my friend was assigned the British division, she told me she was surprised that most of the customers were Patels from Gujarat. I wasn’t, having stayed in Gujarat for a substantial time now; I know very well that if a Gujarati has one foot in Surat, his other foot is in Southampton!!!
Talking of Brits, it reminds me of a train journey back home where one of our co-passengers happened to be a sound engineer working in music recording studio. What allured us into drawing him into a conversation with him was that he had an i-pod with him. And for us then, it was like-“WOW! That’s an i-pod!! And after the conversation that lasted for about three hours(if you can still call it a conversation!!), it was his turn to be amazed by our knowledge of the English county cricket, the Brit polity, Blair’s fourth child and of course, the universal language – music. The very fact that we listened to and knew about the likes of Led Zeppelin, Oasis, Coldplay and the latest about them together with other well-known Brit and American bands left him amazed. He confessed that his idea of India and Indians had undergone a sea change after the ‘conversation’ and we were more than glad to have helped change the perception of a ‘foreigner’ about our country. Finally, it was our turn to be left dumb-founded when he crooned “kuch toh hua hai” in that typical Brit accent of his and with a sly smile told us that KAL HO NA HO was one of the biggest films in the UK at that time. Only then did I realize that the talk of Indian cinema having arrived on the world scene wasn’t entirely phoney. It had- at least on the British scene, the ‘mother’land of English!!
The other day I went to get my mobile recharged and there was a middle-aged lady showing (off??!!) a very modern phone equipped with all the latest features. She was gleefully showing the MMS of her little granddaughter taking her first steps, which her software engineer son had sent her from the US. When asked if she had a pre-paid or post-paid connection, she said –“No, I have Airtel!!! Globalization at work again, albeit in a different way!!!
Till about 10 years or even 5 years ago, it’d have been unimaginable to think that we’d be this ‘global’. Leave aside the clothes that we wear, the internet that has become such an inseparable part of our lives, the Reebok or the Nike shoes that we wear, or that ubiquitous SMS forward connecting all countries in the world ending with ‘and an Indian sending this forward’!! Without our realization, globalization has indeed become a part of our lives and perhaps what separates us from ‘others’ is probably only the ‘colour’!! Who’d have thought ‘bangalored’ , a verb for someone having his job due to outsourcing would become a part of the English lexicon or better still that outsourcing would be a major issue at the US elections. It is not about how India is getting stronger by the day or that the days of its ‘arrival’ at the world scene are numbered now, but that the lines between various countries and their citizens are being blurred by the day. We are ceasing to be citizens of a particular country (am still very much Indian though, as all of us are) and becoming a part of a ‘global village’.
What is worth noting is that such a topic which used to be a part of school debates and essay competitions has become a pleasant reality now. Pleasant, because such an interaction amongst people from different regions and countries, is an experience in itself. I realize this when I see my blogging friends are from countries as wide as New Zealand and Japan!! Indeed with the Japanese friend running a photo-blog posting pictures taken with her camera-phone, the streets and lives of the Japanese are just a click away!!!
The situation back home in Karnataka is a bit different. Almost every household has either its son or daughter working in a software company; hence it is inevitable that they’ve been to ‘client’s site’ as part of their work and again inevitable that they take their parents there. Was surprised when an ‘aunty’ I met at a wedding started advising me on the kind of clothes I should carry and the precautions that I should take with the visa and passport and that how carrying all those ‘chutneys’ to the US would be of no use as they’d be confiscated at the airport. I was taken aback at this outpour of advice. When asked why this sudden flood of ‘fundas’, she said with a lot of concern-“Son, now that you’ve got a software job, you should be ready to fly to the US at any moment. My son had to go within six months of his joining and he faced lots of problems then. I don’t want you to face the same.”
Thank you Aunty, for the advice. But me and to the US?? Well Yes, Globalization IS indeed a reality now!!
MS word dick-shun-aree doesn't have blog in it!!!SAD
It is raining heavily here and posting this itself takes 30 minutes!
A ‘local’ take on globalization
This article was probably born the day the Pope died!! .The 23 minute long conversation over the phone I had with a friend of mine working with a call-center handling the transactions of a multinational bank left me with no doubt that globalization is a reality and has become an inseparable part of our lives. Here’s why :- When the Vatican was flooded with mourners from all over the globe, my friend was flooded with calls by frenzied callers from the Vatican asking for their credit limit to be raised or better still, that transactions on their cards be barred because their cards had been stolen(even in the Vatican?!!!) And when my friend was assigned the British division, she told me she was surprised that most of the customers were Patels from Gujarat. I wasn’t, having stayed in Gujarat for a substantial time now; I know very well that if a Gujarati has one foot in Surat, his other foot is in Southampton!!!
Talking of Brits, it reminds me of a train journey back home where one of our co-passengers happened to be a sound engineer working in music recording studio. What allured us into drawing him into a conversation with him was that he had an i-pod with him. And for us then, it was like-“WOW! That’s an i-pod!! And after the conversation that lasted for about three hours(if you can still call it a conversation!!), it was his turn to be amazed by our knowledge of the English county cricket, the Brit polity, Blair’s fourth child and of course, the universal language – music. The very fact that we listened to and knew about the likes of Led Zeppelin, Oasis, Coldplay and the latest about them together with other well-known Brit and American bands left him amazed. He confessed that his idea of India and Indians had undergone a sea change after the ‘conversation’ and we were more than glad to have helped change the perception of a ‘foreigner’ about our country. Finally, it was our turn to be left dumb-founded when he crooned “kuch toh hua hai” in that typical Brit accent of his and with a sly smile told us that KAL HO NA HO was one of the biggest films in the UK at that time. Only then did I realize that the talk of Indian cinema having arrived on the world scene wasn’t entirely phoney. It had- at least on the British scene, the ‘mother’land of English!!
The other day I went to get my mobile recharged and there was a middle-aged lady showing (off??!!) a very modern phone equipped with all the latest features. She was gleefully showing the MMS of her little granddaughter taking her first steps, which her software engineer son had sent her from the US. When asked if she had a pre-paid or post-paid connection, she said –“No, I have Airtel!!! Globalization at work again, albeit in a different way!!!
Till about 10 years or even 5 years ago, it’d have been unimaginable to think that we’d be this ‘global’. Leave aside the clothes that we wear, the internet that has become such an inseparable part of our lives, the Reebok or the Nike shoes that we wear, or that ubiquitous SMS forward connecting all countries in the world ending with ‘and an Indian sending this forward’!! Without our realization, globalization has indeed become a part of our lives and perhaps what separates us from ‘others’ is probably only the ‘colour’!! Who’d have thought ‘bangalored’ , a verb for someone having his job due to outsourcing would become a part of the English lexicon or better still that outsourcing would be a major issue at the US elections. It is not about how India is getting stronger by the day or that the days of its ‘arrival’ at the world scene are numbered now, but that the lines between various countries and their citizens are being blurred by the day. We are ceasing to be citizens of a particular country (am still very much Indian though, as all of us are) and becoming a part of a ‘global village’.
What is worth noting is that such a topic which used to be a part of school debates and essay competitions has become a pleasant reality now. Pleasant, because such an interaction amongst people from different regions and countries, is an experience in itself. I realize this when I see my blogging friends are from countries as wide as New Zealand and Japan!! Indeed with the Japanese friend running a photo-blog posting pictures taken with her camera-phone, the streets and lives of the Japanese are just a click away!!!
The situation back home in Karnataka is a bit different. Almost every household has either its son or daughter working in a software company; hence it is inevitable that they’ve been to ‘client’s site’ as part of their work and again inevitable that they take their parents there. Was surprised when an ‘aunty’ I met at a wedding started advising me on the kind of clothes I should carry and the precautions that I should take with the visa and passport and that how carrying all those ‘chutneys’ to the US would be of no use as they’d be confiscated at the airport. I was taken aback at this outpour of advice. When asked why this sudden flood of ‘fundas’, she said with a lot of concern-“Son, now that you’ve got a software job, you should be ready to fly to the US at any moment. My son had to go within six months of his joining and he faced lots of problems then. I don’t want you to face the same.”
Thank you Aunty, for the advice. But me and to the US?? Well Yes, Globalization IS indeed a reality now!!
Wednesday, June 8, 2005
**I get Printed!!** AND**'3.56 reasons why not 2 b @home!!!**
I get printed!!!(for the second time that is!!)
First was in the JAM mag about my college and seeing that getting printed and overwhelmed by the comments to that,I was spurred on to write more and better??!). That was actually the first post on this blog too.
Here it is on jammag
Now, it is in one of the magazines in Surat called YUVA.Guess most people visiting my blog wud've already read the piece anyway.It's the same thing about Gujjus and Engineering.But still here's the link anyway..
Here..on my blog
The magazine doesn't have an online edition but Here's the Cover and scroll down 2 page 24
Here's the story behind the story.
After my exams I had nothing to do(was supposed to be preparing for placements!!).So just called up the office and dropped down to meet Mr.Samir Parikh.
Mr.Parikh,an alumnus of Jamnalal Bajaj,has started out in Surat and Bombay and plans to branch out to other places like Bangalore soon.He runs this portal evidhya.com which 'dishes' out among other interesting things, 'notes' for various courses.(dishes out coz..that's how their punchline is -"Dialled a pizza?,dialled a Dhokla,Now dial your notes!!). He also publishes a monthly magazine 'YUVA'.At Rs.60 it is a tad too costly and to be very frank not all that great, but the very fact that such an endeavour is being pursued in a seemingly boring and 'unhappening' place like Surat is indeed laudable and Mr.Parikh needs to be congratulated for doing someting new.(NO...I'm not being paid for the article or even this praise!!..He deserves it!!)
I guess now I can call myself a 'freelance writer' or to go even a step further a 'freelance journalist' or is it still too early for this literary neonate to 'graduate'!!.Am in touch with newspapers here to see if anything works out.Anyways, IF ANYBODY COMING ACROSS THIS BLOG HAS ANY WRITING ASSIGNMENTS,I'M (ready 2) FREE-(lance)!!!
Will get to hear the news of my 'internship' (hasn't it become fashionable to use this term -'internship'!! even i like it!!) in a few days.Will 'break' it here soon after that.
*****3.56 reasons why not be @ home******
Reason 1. I don't have a comp at my disposal here(still apprehensive if Harsha's 'disposed'it off to the other Nikhil Kulkarni's place!!).Tired of wasting my time and more importantly money at cybercafes, finally found out a Sify i-way,which I'm sorry to say isn't any better.
Reason 1.I have thousands of ideas for a new blog and just can't come out coz of the incessant rains here.Just enjoy to sit and see it pour and want to write a poem full of meta-'pours'!! But feels like heaven away from the sweltering heat of Surat and Mumbai(tho was there only for a few hours, but even that was too much!!)
Reason 1.Friends here have their internals and the bookworms they are refuse to come out..though monsoons see earthworms coming out!!(what a 'muddy' simile!!!)
Reason 0.56. C'mon man, am at home isn't it natural to feel lazy!!!
More than anybody I guess I'm eager to blog and experiment with new things, but these 3.56 reasons are my bane!!!And Ellie start off wid the grp blog atleast the groundwork(insfrastructure!!) and the inaugural post if you please and will join in soon...
First was in the JAM mag about my college and seeing that getting printed and overwhelmed by the comments to that,I was spurred on to write more and better??!). That was actually the first post on this blog too.
Here it is on jammag
Now, it is in one of the magazines in Surat called YUVA.Guess most people visiting my blog wud've already read the piece anyway.It's the same thing about Gujjus and Engineering.But still here's the link anyway..
Here..on my blog
The magazine doesn't have an online edition but Here's the Cover and scroll down 2 page 24
Here's the story behind the story.
After my exams I had nothing to do(was supposed to be preparing for placements!!).So just called up the office and dropped down to meet Mr.Samir Parikh.
Mr.Parikh,an alumnus of Jamnalal Bajaj,has started out in Surat and Bombay and plans to branch out to other places like Bangalore soon.He runs this portal evidhya.com which 'dishes' out among other interesting things, 'notes' for various courses.(dishes out coz..that's how their punchline is -"Dialled a pizza?,dialled a Dhokla,Now dial your notes!!). He also publishes a monthly magazine 'YUVA'.At Rs.60 it is a tad too costly and to be very frank not all that great, but the very fact that such an endeavour is being pursued in a seemingly boring and 'unhappening' place like Surat is indeed laudable and Mr.Parikh needs to be congratulated for doing someting new.(NO...I'm not being paid for the article or even this praise!!..He deserves it!!)
I guess now I can call myself a 'freelance writer' or to go even a step further a 'freelance journalist' or is it still too early for this literary neonate to 'graduate'!!.Am in touch with newspapers here to see if anything works out.Anyways, IF ANYBODY COMING ACROSS THIS BLOG HAS ANY WRITING ASSIGNMENTS,I'M (ready 2) FREE-(lance)!!!
Will get to hear the news of my 'internship' (hasn't it become fashionable to use this term -'internship'!! even i like it!!) in a few days.Will 'break' it here soon after that.
*****3.56 reasons why not be @ home******
Reason 1. I don't have a comp at my disposal here(still apprehensive if Harsha's 'disposed'it off to the other Nikhil Kulkarni's place!!).Tired of wasting my time and more importantly money at cybercafes, finally found out a Sify i-way,which I'm sorry to say isn't any better.
Reason 1.I have thousands of ideas for a new blog and just can't come out coz of the incessant rains here.Just enjoy to sit and see it pour and want to write a poem full of meta-'pours'!! But feels like heaven away from the sweltering heat of Surat and Mumbai(tho was there only for a few hours, but even that was too much!!)
Reason 1.Friends here have their internals and the bookworms they are refuse to come out..though monsoons see earthworms coming out!!(what a 'muddy' simile!!!)
Reason 0.56. C'mon man, am at home isn't it natural to feel lazy!!!
More than anybody I guess I'm eager to blog and experiment with new things, but these 3.56 reasons are my bane!!!And Ellie start off wid the grp blog atleast the groundwork(insfrastructure!!) and the inaugural post if you please and will join in soon...
Friday, June 3, 2005
**The reason for the delay** and **reasons for further delays**
Sorely miss my comp which I've left behind in my room hoping that Bharath will see to it that it safely reaches Nikhil Kulkarni's home.Yes!we do have another Nikhil Kulkarni at my college which leads to lots of confusion..that will make for another good post.Had a very eventful journey back from Surat.Will go to a place where I can surf for free and then post the same;)
It's such a relief to be back home,relief from the scorching heat back in Surat and with mess being closed, the food that we had to eat outside for 20 days..frankly,eating in the mess is good both for the pocket and the stomach..
Am having to post this from some shoddy cybercafe where posting this wud take 4 times as much time as it wud from my room our our beloved C Center.I guess I'll take a 'well-deserved' rest for a few days....But then I might just come back with
*the news of an article of mine appearing in print:-/
*the news of my 'internship' with a premier design agency this summer
(yes Adi it is still summer, may not be for b'loreans!)
So keep watching this space....
It's such a relief to be back home,relief from the scorching heat back in Surat and with mess being closed, the food that we had to eat outside for 20 days..frankly,eating in the mess is good both for the pocket and the stomach..
Am having to post this from some shoddy cybercafe where posting this wud take 4 times as much time as it wud from my room our our beloved C Center.I guess I'll take a 'well-deserved' rest for a few days....But then I might just come back with
*the news of an article of mine appearing in print:-/
*the news of my 'internship' with a premier design agency this summer
(yes Adi it is still summer, may not be for b'loreans!)
So keep watching this space....
Thursday, May 26, 2005
**Hari gets placed** and **No response yet for the group blog :( **
Hari is placed with Kanbay. Am vey happy for him. Can talk to him 'normally' now!! Treated us in Pizza Hut yesterday. Had a nice time. Almost all of us in our group are placed except for one, who I'm sure will get placed soon.
As for Hari(now that his name has been revealed!),he gave 3 interviews for IBM,Cognizant and WIPRO and I can(not!) imagine the hell he's been through over the last week. He reached till the HR interview(which follows the technical interview) stage in all the 3 companies. And and it couldn't be more ironical that his name was Hari Ram Prasad( We call him HRP). Ironical?here's why...
If one is through with the technical interview, he's(no she..we hardly have any here)! given a HR form to fill which usually is more of a personal profile kinda thing.(strengths, weaknesses,expectations from the company,short term and long term plans..etcetera ..etcetera). We engineers have this uncanny knack of finding humour in toughest of the situations and Hari,with a smile just before filling his Kanbay HR form said-" These people must have come to know that my name is 'HR'P..that's why they all want me to fill their 'HR' forms'.But one could miss the gleam in his eyes and the wry humour in his voice. He din't jump up and shout in joy after his name was announced. And God alone knows what sinister designs he himself had!!, Hari's name was the last name to be announced and our TPO paused for about 10 seconds before calling out Hari's name. It was us ,surrounding him who jumped,shouted,hugged and shook each other's hands on Hari being placed.And we had all the reasons on this earth to celebrate.
Signing off with the last line of 'The Kids Aren't Right'-
The cruelest dream,reality(How true!)
If anybody has read David Davidar,William Dalrymple,Anita Desai plz share your thoughts on the same.Better still, suggest some books/movies for this summer.(Can't we do such 'useless' things over the group blog??)
**No response yet for the group blog :(..people sleeping?? **
As for Hari(now that his name has been revealed!),he gave 3 interviews for IBM,Cognizant and WIPRO and I can(not!) imagine the hell he's been through over the last week. He reached till the HR interview(which follows the technical interview) stage in all the 3 companies. And and it couldn't be more ironical that his name was Hari Ram Prasad( We call him HRP). Ironical?here's why...
If one is through with the technical interview, he's(no she..we hardly have any here)! given a HR form to fill which usually is more of a personal profile kinda thing.(strengths, weaknesses,expectations from the company,short term and long term plans..etcetera ..etcetera). We engineers have this uncanny knack of finding humour in toughest of the situations and Hari,with a smile just before filling his Kanbay HR form said-" These people must have come to know that my name is 'HR'P..that's why they all want me to fill their 'HR' forms'.But one could miss the gleam in his eyes and the wry humour in his voice. He din't jump up and shout in joy after his name was announced. And God alone knows what sinister designs he himself had!!, Hari's name was the last name to be announced and our TPO paused for about 10 seconds before calling out Hari's name. It was us ,surrounding him who jumped,shouted,hugged and shook each other's hands on Hari being placed.And we had all the reasons on this earth to celebrate.
Signing off with the last line of 'The Kids Aren't Right'-
The cruelest dream,reality(How true!)
If anybody has read David Davidar,William Dalrymple,Anita Desai plz share your thoughts on the same.Better still, suggest some books/movies for this summer.(Can't we do such 'useless' things over the group blog??)
**No response yet for the group blog :(..people sleeping?? **
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
Of a 'cosmetic surgery' and ***THE GROUP BLOG***
Have nothing much to do these days and with no net in the hostel...am itching to run back home.
.My blog has undergone a minor cosmetic surgery.An 'implant' actually,if you happen to look at its left,you'll notice an enlargement.(The computer engineer I am, my 'pointless' mind wandered onto the 'silicon territory'!!!).Have added the cbox(too late to hop onto the bandwagon, is it??Almost every blogger worth his/her salt has one.So why not me??So much salt am I worth!!).Make use of it..Adi did the honours of inaugurating it...
At the risk of repetition,am repeating!! what I had thought of about the group blog.
And am expecting some happy news soon,will wait till I hear it myself and then share it.(whatever that means,even i dunno!!).Don't want to celebrate too early,that's what I meant.
********What am I currently reading*********
Into 30 odd pages of Raj Kamal Jha's 'If you are afraid of heights'.Almost picked up 'To kill a mocking bird' when I just happened to glance at this one and what more could draw me to this book than the fact that Mr.Jha is an Engg.grad(IIT-K mech) and journalist and an author. I can think of atleast one 'el(l)igible' author who would be inspired!!.What say, madam???
Will try and post the review..till then HERE'S more on the book.
S*it,my post on Gujju wedding gate-crashes is still to be written.(And I say I have nothing much to do here!!)
.My blog has undergone a minor cosmetic surgery.An 'implant' actually,if you happen to look at its left,you'll notice an enlargement.(The computer engineer I am, my 'pointless' mind wandered onto the 'silicon territory'!!!).Have added the cbox(too late to hop onto the bandwagon, is it??Almost every blogger worth his/her salt has one.So why not me??So much salt am I worth!!).Make use of it..Adi did the honours of inaugurating it...
****ABOUT THE GROUP BLOG****
At the risk of repetition,am repeating!! what I had thought of about the group blog.
1.Narrow down(or expand)the areas which the group blog would encompass.
2.Suggest a name for the same.
3.Might sound too far-fetched, but thinking of modeling it on the lines of
MIDDLE STAGE
4.Also check out-AMIT VARMA
5.And people please do respond fast, guess ditering won't help.
And am expecting some happy news soon,will wait till I hear it myself and then share it.(whatever that means,even i dunno!!).Don't want to celebrate too early,that's what I meant.
********What am I currently reading*********
Into 30 odd pages of Raj Kamal Jha's 'If you are afraid of heights'.Almost picked up 'To kill a mocking bird' when I just happened to glance at this one and what more could draw me to this book than the fact that Mr.Jha is an Engg.grad(IIT-K mech) and journalist and an author. I can think of atleast one 'el(l)igible' author who would be inspired!!.What say, madam???
Will try and post the review..till then HERE'S more on the book.
S*it,my post on Gujju wedding gate-crashes is still to be written.(And I say I have nothing much to do here!!)
Monday, May 23, 2005
Much ado about ...placements???
Since the semester has come to an end,we don't have internet in the hostels anymore.Am rt now posting from our beloved C center.The next one month might see me posting from the cybercafe nearest to my home or 'wherever I may roam'!!
Jokes apart,here's a serious post.Read on...
*******************************
Much ado about.... placements...
*******************************
The outright outspoken person I am, I thought why not be a little outwritten.(that's one thing about us neonate 'writers'!, if you can't find an appropriate word to describe something,you either coin one yourself or use 'quotes'!!,how clever!)
In my previous post I mentioned as to how people change(their behaviour,their attitude,'the sudden increase in their fundooness'..et al). I have seen people change after reading books. Have people here who say their live have changed after reading Ayn Rand,Paulo Coelho.My way of looking at things did change after watching "The Shawshank Redemption" .Can't explain why, but that somehow got the best out of me in my fifth semester where I actually ended up being among the top ten?? of my class.For the 'hopeless' person that people think I am,that's something of more than a personal achievement for me.People do change after meeting new people or visiting new places.
During the placement frenzy at our college, the budding psychologist in me observed how people change during this whole 'horrible' phase.Either ways it is the end of the road for many.Here's how:
* You get a job, it's the culmination of all the 'hardwork' you did throughout one's life(dammit,it's only 20 odd years..still a long way to go..) and there's else left to achieve.
*You don't get a job, peer pressure gets on to you and you start losing confidence in yourself and I believe that's the worst thing that can happen to a person.People who are placed suddenly find a spring in their feet and start professing people on how to face interviews and how one has to be bold and confident. What irks me and irritates me at the same time is that more 'capable
and able' people long for such advice from people who are already placed.Encouragement on its part is ok, but somehow being placed doesn't suddenly make one a 'new' person so that you start needlessly professing people around.Whatever it is, somehow din't like this aspect and so am venting
it all out here.And a collective 'BALLS' to all those show-offs.
It is really sad to see 'real good' people (I know that cannot be defined, but the psychologist(screw him!) in me is a decent enough judge) wilting under this horrible pressure called 'peer pressure'. It's not the parental pressure, but it is peer pressure that is worst of all.One of my real good friends is yet to placed.He has faced three interviews and I guess the fact that he's not been able to make it as yet has shaken his confidence so much that he even spoke once of not taking up a job at all.Even I am in a predicament,talking to him and cheering him up is ok..but then when he gives that wry smile and says..."yeah yeah ..agle(company) mein ho jaayega"...I'm totally lost for words and have serious doubts on the whole process,atleast in his case man,c'mon he's more deserving than most people around.Just because the A/C in the room was not working or that interviewer was not served the cold-drink just before he came in or that the interviewer got a call from his office that supremely pissed him off, my friend doesn't have to go through this trauma.
Thankfully(ah,how wishful),I have a job.While most people around me are gloating about it...(basking in the glory to put it more appropriately for them), I'm left with no sense of achievement(Am I too numb?) .I don't know what's going to become of this idiot in future,but my aims,ambitions or dreams don't include working my ass off in a software company 9-5 in front of the comp(yeah yeah..they did show us dreams of 5 day week,informal work culture,shift of streams and the pay of course..but I guess the reality is much harsher).One of my secret dreams though is to make a movie,a hinglish one probably...may be by the time I'm 35-40. Here's a person who's actually on the verge of realising such a dream.
DO VISIT .Now that would probably give me more 'kick' than anything else.
So, sorry for throwing water on all the excitement about placements.It's plain LUCK and nothing else.This is me not being at my 'outwritten' best, otherwise would have vented out many 'inside stuff'.Atleast Ellie and Anubhav would come to know of it once they come here and for the rest after all this our Placement Officer(one helluva enthu person,will put any of us youngsters to shame) would proudly say that this year saw almost 100% placements(which is almost sure) and still,everybody will not live happily ever after.!
Chances thrown,nothing's free
Longing for what,used to be.
Still it's hard
Hard to see
Fragile lives,shattered dreams.
- The Kids Aren't Right.
OFFSPRING.
P.S. I had one of the most uneventful interviews,the only high point being him asking about my TV appearance on BBC WORLD!! at University Challenge.WTF,he didn't go deeper about my quizzing.
Anyways, that's not something that I'd wish to enthral my grand-children with.I'd rather enthral them like the rest of you with the tale of us gate-crashing at MEGA Gujju weddings and how we had the best food of our lives there.
Jokes apart,here's a serious post.Read on...
*******************************
Much ado about.... placements...
*******************************
The outright outspoken person I am, I thought why not be a little outwritten.(that's one thing about us neonate 'writers'!, if you can't find an appropriate word to describe something,you either coin one yourself or use 'quotes'!!,how clever!)
In my previous post I mentioned as to how people change(their behaviour,their attitude,'the sudden increase in their fundooness'..et al). I have seen people change after reading books. Have people here who say their live have changed after reading Ayn Rand,Paulo Coelho.My way of looking at things did change after watching "The Shawshank Redemption" .Can't explain why, but that somehow got the best out of me in my fifth semester where I actually ended up being among the top ten?? of my class.For the 'hopeless' person that people think I am,that's something of more than a personal achievement for me.People do change after meeting new people or visiting new places.
During the placement frenzy at our college, the budding psychologist in me observed how people change during this whole 'horrible' phase.Either ways it is the end of the road for many.Here's how:
* You get a job, it's the culmination of all the 'hardwork' you did throughout one's life(dammit,it's only 20 odd years..still a long way to go..) and there's else left to achieve.
*You don't get a job, peer pressure gets on to you and you start losing confidence in yourself and I believe that's the worst thing that can happen to a person.People who are placed suddenly find a spring in their feet and start professing people on how to face interviews and how one has to be bold and confident. What irks me and irritates me at the same time is that more 'capable
and able' people long for such advice from people who are already placed.Encouragement on its part is ok, but somehow being placed doesn't suddenly make one a 'new' person so that you start needlessly professing people around.Whatever it is, somehow din't like this aspect and so am venting
it all out here.And a collective 'BALLS' to all those show-offs.
It is really sad to see 'real good' people (I know that cannot be defined, but the psychologist(screw him!) in me is a decent enough judge) wilting under this horrible pressure called 'peer pressure'. It's not the parental pressure, but it is peer pressure that is worst of all.One of my real good friends is yet to placed.He has faced three interviews and I guess the fact that he's not been able to make it as yet has shaken his confidence so much that he even spoke once of not taking up a job at all.Even I am in a predicament,talking to him and cheering him up is ok..but then when he gives that wry smile and says..."yeah yeah ..agle(company) mein ho jaayega"...I'm totally lost for words and have serious doubts on the whole process,atleast in his case man,c'mon he's more deserving than most people around.Just because the A/C in the room was not working or that interviewer was not served the cold-drink just before he came in or that the interviewer got a call from his office that supremely pissed him off, my friend doesn't have to go through this trauma.
Thankfully(ah,how wishful),I have a job.While most people around me are gloating about it...(basking in the glory to put it more appropriately for them), I'm left with no sense of achievement(Am I too numb?) .I don't know what's going to become of this idiot in future,but my aims,ambitions or dreams don't include working my ass off in a software company 9-5 in front of the comp(yeah yeah..they did show us dreams of 5 day week,informal work culture,shift of streams and the pay of course..but I guess the reality is much harsher).One of my secret dreams though is to make a movie,a hinglish one probably...may be by the time I'm 35-40. Here's a person who's actually on the verge of realising such a dream.
DO VISIT .Now that would probably give me more 'kick' than anything else.
So, sorry for throwing water on all the excitement about placements.It's plain LUCK and nothing else.This is me not being at my 'outwritten' best, otherwise would have vented out many 'inside stuff'.Atleast Ellie and Anubhav would come to know of it once they come here and for the rest after all this our Placement Officer(one helluva enthu person,will put any of us youngsters to shame) would proudly say that this year saw almost 100% placements(which is almost sure) and still,everybody will not live happily ever after.!
Chances thrown,nothing's free
Longing for what,used to be.
Still it's hard
Hard to see
Fragile lives,shattered dreams.
- The Kids Aren't Right.
OFFSPRING.
P.S. I had one of the most uneventful interviews,the only high point being him asking about my TV appearance on BBC WORLD!! at University Challenge.WTF,he didn't go deeper about my quizzing.
Anyways, that's not something that I'd wish to enthral my grand-children with.I'd rather enthral them like the rest of you with the tale of us gate-crashing at MEGA Gujju weddings and how we had the best food of our lives there.
Friday, May 20, 2005
I got PLACED!!!*** AND***GUJJUS IN ENGINEERING***
Was busy and a bit lazy too throughout the last 7-8 days to post.Have placements going on in our college.I got placed in CTS(Cognizant Technology Solutions)!!!.Visit cognizant.com for details!!Here are the things that I've promised myself that I'd do over the next few days.
1.Create a new blog about the placements at our college.Have lots to share about it.The highs,the lows,the reactions of people and how people change not by travelling places,not by meeting new people,not by reading books,but by getting a job!!!.Details of my tryst with placements too will be there.
2.Upload all photos on placements clicked by Pandit with his digicam.
3.Create a group blog about interesting people we come across,places we visit,books we read,movie reviews...any takers????
Finally,here's something which I wrote amidst our 'hectic' placement schedule.Why did I write the following piece will be made public on June 1st or 2nd.This is not even half as funny,sarcastic,hilarious,humorous I wanted it to be.But since it was written for a 'purpose',I had to toe more of a 'formal' line.Been observing people very closely of late and even this thought of doing a PG in psychology crossed my mind and Bharath almost beat me to death when I told it to him just before my interview for CTS!!!
Looking forward to reactions from you all on this,esp. Gujjus!!
***********************************
Gujjus (in) and engineering...
***********************************
Where on earth would you find a teacher in a computer engineering class asking students to "work out in the hostel and come"??......if you want an exact geographic location, it is the state of Gujarat in Western India. The teacher might not intended to mean "work out" as in picking up the dumbbells and sweating it out in the hostel, but the impression that it leaves on people is certainly not that one would be very happy about. Perhaps, what is more perplexing is that such a glaring mistake (though very much unintended) went unnoticed by most students also and a person like me, who instead of 'listening' to what the teacher was 'teaching' took notice of it and for a moment felt bad about the kind of 'education' I was receiving.
This probably sums up the higher education scene in Gujarat to me, with the little time I've had to observe it. The scenario is such that everyone thinks everything is rosy as long as at the end of the people get what they want.Students,marks and probably a degree so that they can venture into some business their family might be into and teachers, the fact that students are 'happy' also makes them 'happy'. I might be sounding very cynical and sarcastic, but when I see people here clamouring to improve their 'vocab(e)' or their 'English' or their 'communication skills' in a matter of days so that they can clear their Gds and PIs so as to land jobs, it does bother me to tell that them it takes more than a few mugging up of Barron's GRE wordlist or reading some 'motivational' books to have a good vocabulary and communication skills and also that they are skills needed to clear a job interview, but that they are 'life skills' and would keep a person in good stead through out his/her life.
Isn't it paradoxical that Gujaratis known for their entrepreneurial zeal and undying spirit to do better in life pay little heed to finer but very important things like good English, vocabulary buliding,inter-personal skills e.t.c. To me it is from the school stage where the rot stems from. From the little I've gathered from the local news and my 'localite' friends, people are very happy with getting good marks at school level and do bachelors in commerce or arts and set out to do business. Those wanting to pursue science-oriented courses like engineering or medicine have it easy. Seats in such colleges are allotted on the basis of 12th marks, which everybody knows aren't all that hard to score after spending so much money and time in the innumerable tuition classes that have mushroomed all over. No wonder then that introduction of entrance exams like AIEEE for admission to engineering colleges led to a lot of hue and cry and the 'worried' parents had to knock at the door of the courts to provide 'relief' to their children. Contrast this to the situation in states like Maharashtra and Karnataka where there was hardly any such and hue and cry and the parents and more importantly the students had no qualms in adapting to the new system. If such uncomfortable noises are heard about introduction of exams of the standard of AIEEE, which by all means is an exam lot easier than the JEE for entrance into the IITs, then wouldn't it be too wishful of us to expect sizeable number of students from Gujarat to get into the IITs.Again cynical as it may sound, but one must surely ask this question-'How long will people run away from competition?'.
Let me add a bit of my own experiences to this. We have a Gujarati friend of ours who attends tuition classes (tuition classes in engineering?? you might ask...let's leave that for a moment).It happens sometimes (well, many times!) that I have not completed my programs and have to copy from him. And again it happens all the time! That I happen to explain the program better to the teacher and he, the person who wrote the program is left wondering how on earth I could do that just by looking at the program once. Mean as it may sound, I end up getting more marks than him. I’m sure the law of averages would catch up with me and I'd have to repent not being regular, the point I wanted to highlight is that with whatever resources I had at my disposal, I could together with my ability to convince managed to get out of that tricky situation and my friend still wonder how could I manage that!!!
Talking of ability to convince people, it reminds me of one of my seniors working with McKinsey & Co. When asked what does he look for people when he recruits them, he said tersely-"If that girl or guy is convincing enough to sell me the sun for 100 rupees, I’d hire him without any hesitation”. Not that he didn’t value the academic qualifications of a person, but we all know what he was hinting at.
Ending this 'controversial' topic on a 'controversial' note, I’d want to share another incident where the teacher again made a hilarious blooper (unintended of course!).We had to make presentation on an allotted topic with slides and at the same time submit the printout of the material in a file to the teacher.The teacher happened to find out that the content in the slides and the file were not matching. She stopped the person midway and said-"What is this? The material in the slide and the printout are so different. I don't want people to make such ‘controversial’ presentations from now on”. Controversial--what the h*&l??It wasn't a presentation on the Godhra riots or the Best Bakery case. How can a presentation on 'Different types of Cathode Ray Tube monitors’ be controversial.
Then it dawned on to me that she meant 'contradictory'.!!
1.Create a new blog about the placements at our college.Have lots to share about it.The highs,the lows,the reactions of people and how people change not by travelling places,not by meeting new people,not by reading books,but by getting a job!!!.Details of my tryst with placements too will be there.
2.Upload all photos on placements clicked by Pandit with his digicam.
3.Create a group blog about interesting people we come across,places we visit,books we read,movie reviews...any takers????
Finally,here's something which I wrote amidst our 'hectic' placement schedule.Why did I write the following piece will be made public on June 1st or 2nd.This is not even half as funny,sarcastic,hilarious,humorous I wanted it to be.But since it was written for a 'purpose',I had to toe more of a 'formal' line.Been observing people very closely of late and even this thought of doing a PG in psychology crossed my mind and Bharath almost beat me to death when I told it to him just before my interview for CTS!!!
Looking forward to reactions from you all on this,esp. Gujjus!!
***********************************
Gujjus (in) and engineering...
***********************************
Where on earth would you find a teacher in a computer engineering class asking students to "work out in the hostel and come"??......if you want an exact geographic location, it is the state of Gujarat in Western India. The teacher might not intended to mean "work out" as in picking up the dumbbells and sweating it out in the hostel, but the impression that it leaves on people is certainly not that one would be very happy about. Perhaps, what is more perplexing is that such a glaring mistake (though very much unintended) went unnoticed by most students also and a person like me, who instead of 'listening' to what the teacher was 'teaching' took notice of it and for a moment felt bad about the kind of 'education' I was receiving.
This probably sums up the higher education scene in Gujarat to me, with the little time I've had to observe it. The scenario is such that everyone thinks everything is rosy as long as at the end of the people get what they want.Students,marks and probably a degree so that they can venture into some business their family might be into and teachers, the fact that students are 'happy' also makes them 'happy'. I might be sounding very cynical and sarcastic, but when I see people here clamouring to improve their 'vocab(e)' or their 'English' or their 'communication skills' in a matter of days so that they can clear their Gds and PIs so as to land jobs, it does bother me to tell that them it takes more than a few mugging up of Barron's GRE wordlist or reading some 'motivational' books to have a good vocabulary and communication skills and also that they are skills needed to clear a job interview, but that they are 'life skills' and would keep a person in good stead through out his/her life.
Isn't it paradoxical that Gujaratis known for their entrepreneurial zeal and undying spirit to do better in life pay little heed to finer but very important things like good English, vocabulary buliding,inter-personal skills e.t.c. To me it is from the school stage where the rot stems from. From the little I've gathered from the local news and my 'localite' friends, people are very happy with getting good marks at school level and do bachelors in commerce or arts and set out to do business. Those wanting to pursue science-oriented courses like engineering or medicine have it easy. Seats in such colleges are allotted on the basis of 12th marks, which everybody knows aren't all that hard to score after spending so much money and time in the innumerable tuition classes that have mushroomed all over. No wonder then that introduction of entrance exams like AIEEE for admission to engineering colleges led to a lot of hue and cry and the 'worried' parents had to knock at the door of the courts to provide 'relief' to their children. Contrast this to the situation in states like Maharashtra and Karnataka where there was hardly any such and hue and cry and the parents and more importantly the students had no qualms in adapting to the new system. If such uncomfortable noises are heard about introduction of exams of the standard of AIEEE, which by all means is an exam lot easier than the JEE for entrance into the IITs, then wouldn't it be too wishful of us to expect sizeable number of students from Gujarat to get into the IITs.Again cynical as it may sound, but one must surely ask this question-'How long will people run away from competition?'.
Let me add a bit of my own experiences to this. We have a Gujarati friend of ours who attends tuition classes (tuition classes in engineering?? you might ask...let's leave that for a moment).It happens sometimes (well, many times!) that I have not completed my programs and have to copy from him. And again it happens all the time! That I happen to explain the program better to the teacher and he, the person who wrote the program is left wondering how on earth I could do that just by looking at the program once. Mean as it may sound, I end up getting more marks than him. I’m sure the law of averages would catch up with me and I'd have to repent not being regular, the point I wanted to highlight is that with whatever resources I had at my disposal, I could together with my ability to convince managed to get out of that tricky situation and my friend still wonder how could I manage that!!!
Talking of ability to convince people, it reminds me of one of my seniors working with McKinsey & Co. When asked what does he look for people when he recruits them, he said tersely-"If that girl or guy is convincing enough to sell me the sun for 100 rupees, I’d hire him without any hesitation”. Not that he didn’t value the academic qualifications of a person, but we all know what he was hinting at.
Ending this 'controversial' topic on a 'controversial' note, I’d want to share another incident where the teacher again made a hilarious blooper (unintended of course!).We had to make presentation on an allotted topic with slides and at the same time submit the printout of the material in a file to the teacher.The teacher happened to find out that the content in the slides and the file were not matching. She stopped the person midway and said-"What is this? The material in the slide and the printout are so different. I don't want people to make such ‘controversial’ presentations from now on”. Controversial--what the h*&l??It wasn't a presentation on the Godhra riots or the Best Bakery case. How can a presentation on 'Different types of Cathode Ray Tube monitors’ be controversial.
Then it dawned on to me that she meant 'contradictory'.!!
Wednesday, May 11, 2005
Am Back....quirkymurmur resumes...
Today,I am happy on two counts.
One, my exams got over and I don't have the fear of failing in any of the subjects.(Though I haven't failed in any subject till now,that feeling that you might fail in a subject is HORRIBLE.This feeling ruined three of my semester vacations..more on that in the next blog...).
Two,I had promised myself that I would not blog till my exams get over and I'm proud to say that I have kept that promise.Though I did sneak in once and inserted the hitmeter.I did though go through lots of other blogs,about which I'd be sharing details in a short while,I did not post anything on my blog.How's that for a promise of not 'blogging'!!!
Now that my exams are over and am feeling good..and suddenly I find myself in final year!!I thought of going back and take a look at how three years of engineering have passed through the six semester exams I have given till now.Believe me,each of them(not the whole exam,but each subject exam) has a story associated with it.Promise that it'll be an interesting read.
P.S. The hit meter count reads 197..well it's been something like 20 days since i inserted it and there have hardy been any comments and did 197 people actually read my blog???Or is it a case similar to Sonia Gandhi's??People turn up in hordes and hordes to her election rallies, but their numbers don't get converted to votes!!!Can somebody please explain that to me??:)..
One, my exams got over and I don't have the fear of failing in any of the subjects.(Though I haven't failed in any subject till now,that feeling that you might fail in a subject is HORRIBLE.This feeling ruined three of my semester vacations..more on that in the next blog...).
Two,I had promised myself that I would not blog till my exams get over and I'm proud to say that I have kept that promise.Though I did sneak in once and inserted the hitmeter.I did though go through lots of other blogs,about which I'd be sharing details in a short while,I did not post anything on my blog.How's that for a promise of not 'blogging'!!!
Now that my exams are over and am feeling good..and suddenly I find myself in final year!!I thought of going back and take a look at how three years of engineering have passed through the six semester exams I have given till now.Believe me,each of them(not the whole exam,but each subject exam) has a story associated with it.Promise that it'll be an interesting read.
P.S. The hit meter count reads 197..well it's been something like 20 days since i inserted it and there have hardy been any comments and did 197 people actually read my blog???Or is it a case similar to Sonia Gandhi's??People turn up in hordes and hordes to her election rallies, but their numbers don't get converted to votes!!!Can somebody please explain that to me??:)..
Sunday, April 3, 2005
Who the hell wants to do engineering???
OK,Me and Shashank are like the most jobless people around(with our group, of course).We are literally jobless too,yet to be placed you see!!.
Exams fast approaching and NEO asking me to sleep??
The next few days might see me not blogging at all or coming with a flurry of posts as to how engineering sucks...that'll also make for good reading,don't worry!
6 months back B.E== Best is Engineering(IIMA SPIC trip)
4 months back B.E== Best is Engineering (IIMA CHAOS trip)
3 months back B.E== Best is Engineering (SPIC week)
2-1 months back B.E== Best is Engineering(MINDBEND - informals,COCKTAIL)
15 days back B.E== Still,Best is Engineering
5 days back B.E== Bereft of Emotions(schedule announced!)
3 days back B.E== BASTARD ENGINEERING
now......... k.. enuf of bullshitting... BACK TO ENGINEERING...
*********************************************************************
sha_100_100: u there?
getnikhil2002: yeah...
sha_100_100: tht 4th april was a trap.... technical rap....u walked into it
getnikhil2002: will u please crap.........cut the crap?
sha_100_100: btw i came second in our test today.... got 22 in technical.... one of the highest
sha_100_100:
getnikhil2002: that is sash(ay)ing............ simply smashing....
getnikhil2002: calls for a greet---------grand treat
getnikhil2002: if a cat has had a good meal... will it say it was a purrfect meal?
sha_100_100: if a dog chases a leopard instead of a cat... wont u say its barking up the wrong tree?
getnikhil2002: are good females supposed to use sane(i)tary napkins?
sha_100_100: how do girls throw away the sane(i)tary napkins?
sha_100_100: ti-shoo
getnikhil2002: why are there no females in your cLASS?
sha_100_100: becos LSASS VULNERABLE
sha_100_100: .exe
getnikhil2002: isn't it a bit missleading....this word called cASStratred??
sha_100_100: ya i think it should rather hv been cass'TREATED'!
getnikhil2002: the university vice chancellor has become inVCble
sha_100_100: wud u take incest in zest?
sha_100_100: speaking of miss leading .... what do u think abt the word 'AWAY'lable?
getnikhil2002: this novel HARD times by charles DICKens...
getnikhil2002: somebody passed away... he went to paraDIES..
sha_100_100: and this character master bates in oliver twist.... this DICK(ens) really knew how to twist and screw things
getnikhil2002: guess he had an UNCANNY KNACK of screwing things..... probably was a meCANNYcal engineer..
sha_100_100: god doesnt play dice.... he just makes sure the guy dies
getnikhil2002: if you proposed a girl from electrical... will she reFUSE?
sha_100_100: rather a ME-CANNY-KAL engr...one from the past
getnikhil2002: will pumelo get a FAIRwell??
sha_100_100: oh my god .... that trical girl is 'circuit'
sha_100_100: can an impotent guy get a wel'cum'?
getnikhil2002: who's a gujju guy who is sexually inactive?? cum less === kamlesh...
sha_100_100: what do u call a fat wedded couple
sha_100_100: what do u call a fat wedded GUJJU couple
getnikhil2002: ??
sha_100_100: MARRY GO ROUND
sha_100_100: did u hear abt the screeching prostitute>?
sha_100_100: did u hear abt the screeching prostitutes?
getnikhil2002: no...
sha_100_100: the WHORES were HOARSE
getnikhil2002: ok u r talking abt the that one prosTITute...
sha_100_100: do u know what el'L'e can do to u?
getnikhil2002: if prostitutes had a school... how would they be evaluated..
sha_100_100: she can change u from affable to 'L'affable
sha_100_100: how
getnikhil2002: they would be evaluated on the basis on prostutorials,,,PT in short
sha_100_100: what is the answer?
getnikhil2002: they would be evaluated on the basis on prostutorials,,,PT in short
getnikhil2002: even in deFEAT ... a person achieves a FEAT
sha_100_100: and that person is also EATing
sha_100_100: btw how did u upload htose photos>
getnikhil2002: how will a female customer walking to a gigolo ask two questions in one sentence?
getnikhil2002: www.photobucket.com
getnikhil2002: are you stRATE?
getnikhil2002: www.flickr.com is better i guess...
sha_100_100: what is a male prostitute playing in a band called>? ...this ones a sitter.....
sha_100_100: a jigole
sha_100_100: a 'jig'olo
sha_100_100: sorry its a 'gig'olo
getnikhil2002: how will the lead singer scold the guitarist??
sha_100_100: how
getnikhil2002: you BASStard..............
getnikhil2002: type in here ,,,,guess HERsha's left....continue here,,,
getnikhil2002: yeah even ppl have been telling me abt this,,,but seriously it does take some brains to thINK this way......
sha_100_100: my sha?
getnikhil2002: ??
sha_100_100: some BRA IN wat>
getnikhil2002: i'm blind.... i know BRA ILLA(e) ...
sha_100_100: a blind tamil girl is ????
getnikhil2002: ??
sha_100_100: BRA ILLAD
sha_100_100: i think ive reached SATURation point.....its 4 am on a saturday
getnikhil2002: and we still haven't sLEFT...
getnikhil2002: ok.. we'll stop after i sEND you this message...
sha_100_100: and ill give you some bYES
*************************************************************************
Following is the entire transcript of the conversation we had over yahoo messenger.It might make no sense at all, but I'm sure shashank and me had a very good time whacking our brains. Actually coming up with things like this gives me more joy than being a topper in exams.(More joy than second in technical,eh Skunk??..n me third..what say??balls to that:))
Exams fast approaching and NEO asking me to sleep??
The next few days might see me not blogging at all or coming with a flurry of posts as to how engineering sucks...that'll also make for good reading,don't worry!
6 months back B.E== Best is Engineering(IIMA SPIC trip)
4 months back B.E== Best is Engineering (IIMA CHAOS trip)
3 months back B.E== Best is Engineering (SPIC week)
2-1 months back B.E== Best is Engineering(MINDBEND - informals,COCKTAIL)
15 days back B.E== Still,Best is Engineering
5 days back B.E== Bereft of Emotions(schedule announced!)
3 days back B.E== BASTARD ENGINEERING
now......... k.. enuf of bullshitting... BACK TO ENGINEERING...
*********************************************************************
sha_100_100: u there?
getnikhil2002: yeah...
sha_100_100: tht 4th april was a trap.... technical rap....u walked into it
getnikhil2002: will u please crap.........cut the crap?
sha_100_100: btw i came second in our test today.... got 22 in technical.... one of the highest
sha_100_100:
getnikhil2002: that is sash(ay)ing............ simply smashing....
getnikhil2002: calls for a greet---------grand treat
getnikhil2002: if a cat has had a good meal... will it say it was a purrfect meal?
sha_100_100: if a dog chases a leopard instead of a cat... wont u say its barking up the wrong tree?
getnikhil2002: are good females supposed to use sane(i)tary napkins?
sha_100_100: how do girls throw away the sane(i)tary napkins?
sha_100_100: ti-shoo
getnikhil2002: why are there no females in your cLASS?
sha_100_100: becos LSASS VULNERABLE
sha_100_100: .exe
getnikhil2002: isn't it a bit missleading....this word called cASStratred??
sha_100_100: ya i think it should rather hv been cass'TREATED'!
getnikhil2002: the university vice chancellor has become inVCble
sha_100_100: wud u take incest in zest?
sha_100_100: speaking of miss leading .... what do u think abt the word 'AWAY'lable?
getnikhil2002: this novel HARD times by charles DICKens...
getnikhil2002: somebody passed away... he went to paraDIES..
sha_100_100: and this character master bates in oliver twist.... this DICK(ens) really knew how to twist and screw things
getnikhil2002: guess he had an UNCANNY KNACK of screwing things..... probably was a meCANNYcal engineer..
sha_100_100: god doesnt play dice.... he just makes sure the guy dies
getnikhil2002: if you proposed a girl from electrical... will she reFUSE?
sha_100_100: rather a ME-CANNY-KAL engr...one from the past
getnikhil2002: will pumelo get a FAIRwell??
sha_100_100: oh my god .... that trical girl is 'circuit'
sha_100_100: can an impotent guy get a wel'cum'?
getnikhil2002: who's a gujju guy who is sexually inactive?? cum less === kamlesh...
sha_100_100: what do u call a fat wedded couple
sha_100_100: what do u call a fat wedded GUJJU couple
getnikhil2002: ??
sha_100_100: MARRY GO ROUND
sha_100_100: did u hear abt the screeching prostitute>?
sha_100_100: did u hear abt the screeching prostitutes?
getnikhil2002: no...
sha_100_100: the WHORES were HOARSE
getnikhil2002: ok u r talking abt the that one prosTITute...
sha_100_100: do u know what el'L'e can do to u?
getnikhil2002: if prostitutes had a school... how would they be evaluated..
sha_100_100: she can change u from affable to 'L'affable
sha_100_100: how
getnikhil2002: they would be evaluated on the basis on prostutorials,,,PT in short
sha_100_100: what is the answer?
getnikhil2002: they would be evaluated on the basis on prostutorials,,,PT in short
getnikhil2002: even in deFEAT ... a person achieves a FEAT
sha_100_100: and that person is also EATing
sha_100_100: btw how did u upload htose photos>
getnikhil2002: how will a female customer walking to a gigolo ask two questions in one sentence?
getnikhil2002: www.photobucket.com
getnikhil2002: are you stRATE?
getnikhil2002: www.flickr.com is better i guess...
sha_100_100: what is a male prostitute playing in a band called>? ...this ones a sitter.....
sha_100_100: a jigole
sha_100_100: a 'jig'olo
sha_100_100: sorry its a 'gig'olo
getnikhil2002: how will the lead singer scold the guitarist??
sha_100_100: how
getnikhil2002: you BASStard..............
getnikhil2002: type in here ,,,,guess HERsha's left....continue here,,,
getnikhil2002: yeah even ppl have been telling me abt this,,,but seriously it does take some brains to thINK this way......
sha_100_100: my sha?
getnikhil2002: ??
sha_100_100: some BRA IN wat>
getnikhil2002: i'm blind.... i know BRA ILLA(e) ...
sha_100_100: a blind tamil girl is ????
getnikhil2002: ??
sha_100_100: BRA ILLAD
sha_100_100: i think ive reached SATURation point.....its 4 am on a saturday
getnikhil2002: and we still haven't sLEFT...
getnikhil2002: ok.. we'll stop after i sEND you this message...
sha_100_100: and ill give you some bYES
*************************************************************************
Friday, April 1, 2005
SWADES REDUX?!
SWADES REDUX??
Had been to my relative's place in this town called Ranebennur in North Karnataka.I wouldn't say the journey was uneventful, coz whenever I travel I make it a point u usually travel by the general compartment(GC) and chat with co-passengers and 'quiz' them about the place,it's history, the delicacies(yes food!).Believe me,that's a very nice way to spend time while travelling apart from spending time with books and magazines.
Had just watched SWADES then,and had a camera to boot.So just let the photographer in me come alive and took a few photgraphs.
P.S. Is it a mere coincidence that "Yeh Jo Des Hai Tera" is playing in the background?
Sunday, March 27, 2005
Clean Fresh Normal......
Donno why the poet in my has suddenly 'woken up'.Here's is how i was this weekend.
Finally cleaned my dirty room with a clean broom,
Now the broom is as dirty as my room
And my room as clean as the broom.
Am I proud of my room.
Got down to my knees,
Mopped the floor.
Oh god! the dust and my back,
But am sure, mom would be glad back home.
Went into a long slumber
Caught glimpses of a vivid dream
In my mind's innermost realm
My folks called up, thought -yes have to do it for them.
Have come some distance far,
Still a long way to go.
Am barely out of my teens,
Can't yet come to terms with this world's niceties.
There's so much to learn,so much to listen,
So much to know,so much to read.
And i'm not talking classroom here.
Only then you realise how 'small' you are.
In my mind,while these were being contemplated,
Bharath says I was 'frustrated'.
There are times when you need to switch off,
Have to sit back , think and watch.
Now that I've woken up,dreamt that dream
My mind like my room,fresh and clean
And for Bharath
I'm normal again
P.S. Is the poet in me lousy??Shall I keep him awake or put him to sleep??
Finally cleaned my dirty room with a clean broom,
Now the broom is as dirty as my room
And my room as clean as the broom.
Am I proud of my room.
Got down to my knees,
Mopped the floor.
Oh god! the dust and my back,
But am sure, mom would be glad back home.
Went into a long slumber
Caught glimpses of a vivid dream
In my mind's innermost realm
My folks called up, thought -yes have to do it for them.
Have come some distance far,
Still a long way to go.
Am barely out of my teens,
Can't yet come to terms with this world's niceties.
There's so much to learn,so much to listen,
So much to know,so much to read.
And i'm not talking classroom here.
Only then you realise how 'small' you are.
In my mind,while these were being contemplated,
Bharath says I was 'frustrated'.
There are times when you need to switch off,
Have to sit back , think and watch.
Now that I've woken up,dreamt that dream
My mind like my room,fresh and clean
And for Bharath
I'm normal again
P.S. Is the poet in me lousy??Shall I keep him awake or put him to sleep??
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Sense and Non-sensibilty
Bharath tells me,for the last 10 days or so
I've been speaking non-sense.
What does he know,
for what I'm doing makes perfect sense.
I need a lot of rest,
My room's in such a mess.
And I've hardly slept ,
For the last 10 days.
There's a stye in my left eye,
Which refuses to die.
And I want to read "Catcher in the Rye"
Oh! the stye in my eye.
Ok, I talk a lot and crack a lot of jokes
Am really bored of class and notes.
I am still very much sane
But my PJs will continue to rain.
There's very little time to go,
Before exams usurp our fun.
My subjects' names i still don't know
Have to wake up now,how far can i run?
I just need a break, and some rest.
Long hours of deep sleep.
Then Bharath won't complain
For him, I'd be normal and sane then!
I've been speaking non-sense.
What does he know,
for what I'm doing makes perfect sense.
I need a lot of rest,
My room's in such a mess.
And I've hardly slept ,
For the last 10 days.
There's a stye in my left eye,
Which refuses to die.
And I want to read "Catcher in the Rye"
Oh! the stye in my eye.
Ok, I talk a lot and crack a lot of jokes
Am really bored of class and notes.
I am still very much sane
But my PJs will continue to rain.
There's very little time to go,
Before exams usurp our fun.
My subjects' names i still don't know
Have to wake up now,how far can i run?
I just need a break, and some rest.
Long hours of deep sleep.
Then Bharath won't complain
For him, I'd be normal and sane then!
Monday, March 14, 2005
one more .....poem???
WHILE I'M YET TO WRITE ON WHAT ALL I WAS 'BUSY' WITH FOR THE LAST 20 DAYS OR SO, HERE'S SOMETHING WHICH I WROTE DURING THE FIRST PERIOD TODAY!!(STILL CAN'T SEEM TO RECONCILE TO THE FACT THAT WHILE IN CLASS I'M SUPPOSED TO LISTEN TO THE TEACHER!!)
SO HERE IT GOES..(COULDN'T FIND A TITLE.. ANY SUGGESTIONS ..APART FROM THE BRICKBATS,CRIBS,RAVES AND ....)
...............................................................................
THE DATE AND TIME WERE SET
FOR THE RENDEZVOUS.
TO SEE THE PRETTY ONE,
HE'D BEEN TRYING TO WOO.
HE STILL CANNOT FORGET ,
THEIR FIRST ENCOUNTER
IN A VERY PIQUANT SITUATION,
BOTH OF THEM WERE.
HE RAMMED INTO HER FROM BEHIND
I MEAN,HIS PULSAR INTO HER SCOOTY.
SHE CREATED A FURORE,WORDS ADDING FUEL TO FIRE.
AFTER ALL, A FIERY YOUNG WOMAN SHE WAS.
PROFUSELY HE APOLOGISED, BUT TO NO AVAIL
SHE FINALLY CALMED DOWN, AND APOLOGISED IN RETURN.
FOUND HIM VERY NAUGHTY , WHEN ASKED FOR A CUP OF COFFEE.
COFFEE CAN WAIT, SHE SAID AND GAVE HER MOBILE NUMBER INSTEAD.
HESITANTLY HE SENT THE FIRST SMS FORWARD
WAS PLEASANTLY SURPRISED BY THE DELUGE OF REPLIES.
MOVING AHEAD FROM SILLY SMSES
THEY BEGAN TALKING SOON.
HE FOUND HER INTERESTING
SHE FOUND HIM SILLY,FUNNY AND TEMPTING!
BOTH MOVED CLOSER TO EACH OTHER
THOUGH THEY NEVER MET ONE ANOTHER.
FINALLY HE CONJURED UP ENOUGH COURAGE
ASKED HER OUT FOR A DATE.
SAID WE'LL MEET AT THE COFFEE PLACE
AND TALK OVER PASTRIES AND FRAPPE.
TO HIS JUBILIATION SHE AGREED
SAID- WILL COME IN MY FAVOURITE COLOUR- GREEN
CONFESSED EVEN SHE WAS EAGER,
TO MEET THE PERSON WHO'D RAMMED INTO HER.
HE WAITED ENDLESSLY AT THE COFFEE SHOP
BUT THERE WAS NO SIGN OF 'THE ONE'
NOW THOUGHT HE, SOMEONE ELSE HAS RAMMED INTO HER.
RETURNED DISAPPOINTED WITHOUT THE ENCOUNTER.
AND THEN THE SKIES OPENED UP
HE STOOD DRENCHED WHILE EVERYONE SCURRIED FOR COVER.
PETALS OF THE ROSE WERE ALL WASHED AWAY,
WHILE THE SKIES OPENED UP AGAIN!
©nikhilkulkarni 2005(COPYRIGHT..EH!!)
SO HERE IT GOES..(COULDN'T FIND A TITLE.. ANY SUGGESTIONS ..APART FROM THE BRICKBATS,CRIBS,RAVES AND ....)
...............................................................................
THE DATE AND TIME WERE SET
FOR THE RENDEZVOUS.
TO SEE THE PRETTY ONE,
HE'D BEEN TRYING TO WOO.
HE STILL CANNOT FORGET ,
THEIR FIRST ENCOUNTER
IN A VERY PIQUANT SITUATION,
BOTH OF THEM WERE.
HE RAMMED INTO HER FROM BEHIND
I MEAN,HIS PULSAR INTO HER SCOOTY.
SHE CREATED A FURORE,WORDS ADDING FUEL TO FIRE.
AFTER ALL, A FIERY YOUNG WOMAN SHE WAS.
PROFUSELY HE APOLOGISED, BUT TO NO AVAIL
SHE FINALLY CALMED DOWN, AND APOLOGISED IN RETURN.
FOUND HIM VERY NAUGHTY , WHEN ASKED FOR A CUP OF COFFEE.
COFFEE CAN WAIT, SHE SAID AND GAVE HER MOBILE NUMBER INSTEAD.
HESITANTLY HE SENT THE FIRST SMS FORWARD
WAS PLEASANTLY SURPRISED BY THE DELUGE OF REPLIES.
MOVING AHEAD FROM SILLY SMSES
THEY BEGAN TALKING SOON.
HE FOUND HER INTERESTING
SHE FOUND HIM SILLY,FUNNY AND TEMPTING!
BOTH MOVED CLOSER TO EACH OTHER
THOUGH THEY NEVER MET ONE ANOTHER.
FINALLY HE CONJURED UP ENOUGH COURAGE
ASKED HER OUT FOR A DATE.
SAID WE'LL MEET AT THE COFFEE PLACE
AND TALK OVER PASTRIES AND FRAPPE.
TO HIS JUBILIATION SHE AGREED
SAID- WILL COME IN MY FAVOURITE COLOUR- GREEN
CONFESSED EVEN SHE WAS EAGER,
TO MEET THE PERSON WHO'D RAMMED INTO HER.
HE WAITED ENDLESSLY AT THE COFFEE SHOP
BUT THERE WAS NO SIGN OF 'THE ONE'
NOW THOUGHT HE, SOMEONE ELSE HAS RAMMED INTO HER.
RETURNED DISAPPOINTED WITHOUT THE ENCOUNTER.
AND THEN THE SKIES OPENED UP
HE STOOD DRENCHED WHILE EVERYONE SCURRIED FOR COVER.
PETALS OF THE ROSE WERE ALL WASHED AWAY,
WHILE THE SKIES OPENED UP AGAIN!
©nikhilkulkarni 2005(COPYRIGHT..EH!!)
Saturday, February 26, 2005
10 ways to irritate your hostelmates!
Here are 10 ways to irritate your hostelmates.
Statutory Warning: Using any of the below means might lead to .. many things!!Try and see!
10.The classic: Lock them up inside their rooms or in the bathrooms when they are bathing!
9. Take their buckets and mugs and don't return them for days, weeks or even months.
8. Barge into their rooms, stand idle for 5 mins and come back.
7. After 5 mins again do no.8
6. Just go to the mike and shout " AS-3 Bharath phone hold hai --ghar se phone hai." .Mr.Bharath is fast asleep,wakes up runs to the mike and finds out that there was no phone call.The next morning you tell him that was probabaly a dream!
5. Diwali time,knock on the door,the bechara opens the door and before he realises DHUM, the cracker bursts right infront of him!
4. If your hostels are all wired up with LAN,spam them asking their opinions on spamming!
3. Cold winter nights, go infront of the mess with a plate and spoon sound a bell, people assemble thinking it was a tea-bell. And when they realise that was a hoax join them in abusing the culprit and leave!!
2.Old one but still,use their tooth paste,hair oil, shoe polish,vaseline,.. most importantly water which they take all the trouble to fill. Better still empty the bottle.
1.Play songs like KYUNKI SAAS BHI KABHI BAHU THI on full volume on your computer, lock your room and go out of the hostel on Sundays!and rejoice you've just disturbed their hafte bhar ka sleep!!
Statutory Warning: Using any of the below means might lead to .. many things!!Try and see!
10.The classic: Lock them up inside their rooms or in the bathrooms when they are bathing!
9. Take their buckets and mugs and don't return them for days, weeks or even months.
8. Barge into their rooms, stand idle for 5 mins and come back.
7. After 5 mins again do no.8
6. Just go to the mike and shout " AS-3 Bharath phone hold hai --ghar se phone hai." .Mr.Bharath is fast asleep,wakes up runs to the mike and finds out that there was no phone call.The next morning you tell him that was probabaly a dream!
5. Diwali time,knock on the door,the bechara opens the door and before he realises DHUM, the cracker bursts right infront of him!
4. If your hostels are all wired up with LAN,spam them asking their opinions on spamming!
3. Cold winter nights, go infront of the mess with a plate and spoon sound a bell, people assemble thinking it was a tea-bell. And when they realise that was a hoax join them in abusing the culprit and leave!!
2.Old one but still,use their tooth paste,hair oil, shoe polish,vaseline,.. most importantly water which they take all the trouble to fill. Better still empty the bottle.
1.Play songs like KYUNKI SAAS BHI KABHI BAHU THI on full volume on your computer, lock your room and go out of the hostel on Sundays!and rejoice you've just disturbed their hafte bhar ka sleep!!
Thursday, February 24, 2005
Time for a P.J (Poor Joke, for starters!)
Seriously, quite busy these days doing something on the 'creative' side!(Will write shortly(not lengthwise!)).But still squeeze in some time for P.J.s rather they come naturally to us.
Ok,So here it is ..
"
"
What did i write? Nothing.
Who is a person who has nothing.POOR
So, that was a POOR JOKE!!!
P.S I'm glad people reading it are not around. When I told this to people here, they actually tried to smash me!!
Ok,So here it is ..
"
"
What did i write? Nothing.
Who is a person who has nothing.POOR
So, that was a POOR JOKE!!!
P.S I'm glad people reading it are not around. When I told this to people here, they actually tried to smash me!!
Friday, February 18, 2005
My Class!!!!
I commited a grave, unpardonable sin yesterday.Not only did i bunk all theory classes but also bunked the lab of the most "feared" lecturer in our department. The reason was simple ..I found no convincing reason to attend apart from the mere perfunctory physical presence. One might wonder what difference would it make if I spend 2 hours sitting in the lab, but the simple reason is that when something doesn't convince me, I don't venture into it.And what difference is it going to make on "paper"??.. I might probably get 34 if not 36 out of 50 in that practical. Now should I go on about how i have lost faith in the system.......I guess not!
What was most interesting was the reactions that my actions generated.A few who were genuinely concerned "gyaan"ed me on the negative fallouts of such actions...few looked up to me as a hero achieving the impossible.....[they'd probably have never done such a thing and must be craving for such an "achievement"!!].Most of my classmates though have given up all hopes on me because:
1.I'm the only one of the four or five who bunk(YES ONLY FOUR OR FIVE!)
2.Do "useless" things like attending quizzes, SPIC(again!!!),"committee" work in the college
3. I talk in the class !!!!
4.While the learned ones teach , I write things like this!!!
Some people never look beyond the textbooks and in our case programs and computers(yeah the monitor obscures their view i guess!!)
I'm in such a class where things like bunk, proxy or even the mention of these generates an alien feeling!! All that is supposed to happen in movies rt???. My class is more "funny" than "fun". Of course every class on this earth has its share of nerds and geeks, but when most people feign sincerity and self-righteousness, it does get a bit irritating.Though I must admit(I'm being very frank here) that initailly I had nothing but utter disdain for my class, I
did try and open up myself to their views and opinions, and how much ever i try our frequencies don't seem to match .. and I'm still trying..!!
What I cannot fathom is that none(except 2 or 3 .. I can count!) of my classmates participate in any extra-currics and neither does any of them come up with some hi-funda Project or a program! Then,what is the use of going through the motions of attending classes for mere “academic” interest and ironically enough we do not get marks . So my funda is, When you are going to get screwed anyway, why not!!
I might be taking a high(or is it low) moral ground here and just looking through my “spectacles” , but for a person who’s been never quiet in a class in my school and 11th , 12th days, this lull and inactivity seems a bit unsettling!!!
P.S. As luck would have it, the teacher whose lab I bunked took a surprise test today and needless to say, got screwed.Perhaps, I deserved that!!!!!
What was most interesting was the reactions that my actions generated.A few who were genuinely concerned "gyaan"ed me on the negative fallouts of such actions...few looked up to me as a hero achieving the impossible.....[they'd probably have never done such a thing and must be craving for such an "achievement"!!].Most of my classmates though have given up all hopes on me because:
1.I'm the only one of the four or five who bunk(YES ONLY FOUR OR FIVE!)
2.Do "useless" things like attending quizzes, SPIC(again!!!),"committee" work in the college
3. I talk in the class !!!!
4.While the learned ones teach , I write things like this!!!
Some people never look beyond the textbooks and in our case programs and computers(yeah the monitor obscures their view i guess!!)
I'm in such a class where things like bunk, proxy or even the mention of these generates an alien feeling!! All that is supposed to happen in movies rt???. My class is more "funny" than "fun". Of course every class on this earth has its share of nerds and geeks, but when most people feign sincerity and self-righteousness, it does get a bit irritating.Though I must admit(I'm being very frank here) that initailly I had nothing but utter disdain for my class, I
did try and open up myself to their views and opinions, and how much ever i try our frequencies don't seem to match .. and I'm still trying..!!
What I cannot fathom is that none(except 2 or 3 .. I can count!) of my classmates participate in any extra-currics and neither does any of them come up with some hi-funda Project or a program! Then,what is the use of going through the motions of attending classes for mere “academic” interest and ironically enough we do not get marks . So my funda is, When you are going to get screwed anyway, why not!!
I might be taking a high(or is it low) moral ground here and just looking through my “spectacles” , but for a person who’s been never quiet in a class in my school and 11th , 12th days, this lull and inactivity seems a bit unsettling!!!
P.S. As luck would have it, the teacher whose lab I bunked took a surprise test today and needless to say, got screwed.Perhaps, I deserved that!!!!!
Tuesday, February 15, 2005
a(MUSE)ing Valentines' Day
"20 years and still no 'girlfriend'"…when someone in the canteen remarked casually, only then did I realize the "gravity" of the situation. I might sound naive(maybe) and ignorant (I’m not), but I'm still not very clear with this funda of 'girlfriend'.
Are they someone whom you consider as one more of your conquests and parade them
as your victory spoils or as it happens here, go out to movies and dinners and scamper back to the hostel by 9:30 in the night and everyone at the gate hoots at the couples.!!
[ I must confess that those are still uncharted territories for me and any info given might just be at the face value] .But i guess(my guesses are mostly true, quizzer you see!!), that is mostly what happens.
Perhaps i spelled out my idea of a 'girlfriend' while we were returning from our daily late night coffee jaunts and i broached this subject of boyfriends and girlfriends being objects of show and was actually surprised when they asked me,” What more do you want?!” When I told them that i 'wanted' someone who likes and does the same things as me and them and that the only difference would probably be in the gender, they all went into a collective gasp giving me a feeling that i was demanding too much. I guess I’m justified in being that ‘demanding’.
I probably do not have my way with girls, not being that overly courteous, sweet-talking chivalrous person. I also cannot get the hang of these symbolic expressions, gestures and these so-called 'undercurrents'. On Valentine’s Day, I wore a black shirt which I later came to know meant asking girls 'not to dare' to come near me.[green==already booked, White= available, yellow==space for two???!!!] . Now tell me, when I wake up at 10 and my classes start at 10:30, i don't think of what colour I wear. Now I wonder did me wearing the black shirt that day "shoo" away any girls?? I think not, because i hardly expected any to come up to me and.....
Now,I guess( again!!) that probably has something to do with the way people are branded in the college , similar to typecasting in C or C++...!!!. once you are categorized and irrespective of whatever you do(good or bad), you remain branded forever. This used to affect me earlier, but have broken free of that now. NEVERMIND--Cobain comes to my rescue .So who am i??( Again a guess!) I am that head-shaking guy who fools around cracking poor jokes. I've been called many more things on the same lines, and I definitely enjoy all this because I know there's much to me than just this.
What people here don't realise or know is that one cannot humour the corporates, the media people, the artists(SPIC!!!), people at quizzes, judges at various debates and public speaking contests with just poor jokes , it takes something more than that!!!Ofcourse being humorous and funny comes naturally to me, but there's also a serious, thoughtful, analytical side to me.
But , Why am i writing all this now???
Too serious????, lets tone down the rhetoric a bit. I did indeed miss having a girlfriend coz we couldn’t win the treasure hunt in the college because there were two clues near the girls’ hostel.. Now that is one area where we rarely venture towards.....Now did I miss having one just for the treasure hunt or..........??!!!!
Whatever people may think and say... this is what i think
BETTER BE A CLOWN THAN BE A CLONE!!!
BUT..BUT... I have a hunch which tells me I'm going to meet another clown someday and THAT.. will be serendipity!!!!
Are they someone whom you consider as one more of your conquests and parade them
as your victory spoils or as it happens here, go out to movies and dinners and scamper back to the hostel by 9:30 in the night and everyone at the gate hoots at the couples.!!
[ I must confess that those are still uncharted territories for me and any info given might just be at the face value] .But i guess(my guesses are mostly true, quizzer you see!!), that is mostly what happens.
Perhaps i spelled out my idea of a 'girlfriend' while we were returning from our daily late night coffee jaunts and i broached this subject of boyfriends and girlfriends being objects of show and was actually surprised when they asked me,” What more do you want?!” When I told them that i 'wanted' someone who likes and does the same things as me and them and that the only difference would probably be in the gender, they all went into a collective gasp giving me a feeling that i was demanding too much. I guess I’m justified in being that ‘demanding’.
I probably do not have my way with girls, not being that overly courteous, sweet-talking chivalrous person. I also cannot get the hang of these symbolic expressions, gestures and these so-called 'undercurrents'. On Valentine’s Day, I wore a black shirt which I later came to know meant asking girls 'not to dare' to come near me.[green==already booked, White= available, yellow==space for two???!!!] . Now tell me, when I wake up at 10 and my classes start at 10:30, i don't think of what colour I wear. Now I wonder did me wearing the black shirt that day "shoo" away any girls?? I think not, because i hardly expected any to come up to me and.....
Now,I guess( again!!) that probably has something to do with the way people are branded in the college , similar to typecasting in C or C++...!!!. once you are categorized and irrespective of whatever you do(good or bad), you remain branded forever. This used to affect me earlier, but have broken free of that now. NEVERMIND--Cobain comes to my rescue .So who am i??( Again a guess!) I am that head-shaking guy who fools around cracking poor jokes. I've been called many more things on the same lines, and I definitely enjoy all this because I know there's much to me than just this.
What people here don't realise or know is that one cannot humour the corporates, the media people, the artists(SPIC!!!), people at quizzes, judges at various debates and public speaking contests with just poor jokes , it takes something more than that!!!Ofcourse being humorous and funny comes naturally to me, but there's also a serious, thoughtful, analytical side to me.
But , Why am i writing all this now???
Too serious????, lets tone down the rhetoric a bit. I did indeed miss having a girlfriend coz we couldn’t win the treasure hunt in the college because there were two clues near the girls’ hostel.. Now that is one area where we rarely venture towards.....Now did I miss having one just for the treasure hunt or..........??!!!!
Whatever people may think and say... this is what i think
BETTER BE A CLOWN THAN BE A CLONE!!!
BUT..BUT... I have a hunch which tells me I'm going to meet another clown someday and THAT.. will be serendipity!!!!
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