Caesarean Rhapsody....

Ripe for the hype

2005-04-18T23:33:00.000+05:30

It was disappointing to see Team India (who suggested this crap anyways) giving in so very tamely. It wasn't that big a surprise either. Ahmedabad takes the cake when it comes to upset of the series. However, I was expecting a 3-3 draw at Firozshah Kotla, bringing a fairly nice series to a pale end : pretty much a given, with an India-Pak final. But then, disproving all rumors of the series being fixed and all dispelling all faith in the spirit of the Indian Cricket Team, the entire Indian batting order collapsed for a mere 144. The superlative ease with which the Pakistani openers played their text-book shots, made it look as if the game had shifted to another stadium for the Indian innings. Power cuts at Pune made me miss the Indian innings (and the immense humiliation). However I managed to catch Parvez Musharraf stifling laughters while patting the backs of his victorious home team and Rameez Raja taking a stab at the patriotic pride and ego of the Indian commentators, which according to me was at its nadir that evening.
But what seemed more astounding was the agility with which most TV channels threw together a few old (and mostly jobless) cricketers, a few journos and a lot of irate Indian fans; tossed them a bit and dished out a healthy spread of programs analyzing "The Match that India Lost". Javagal Srinath went live on DD Sports (if I'm not mistaken), some other channels aired a handful of experts carrying out a post-mortem of the game and still others had reporters chasing angry Delhi-ites to capture their angst on camera. All this has piqued my curiosity. Were these guys so sure of India's loss that they had all this crew on hold, just in case? Did India's flagging spirits indicate so clearly that we'd lose, and that too so miserably? Moreover, where were these guys when the formidable pair of Bhupathi and Paes lost at Wimbledon?Had they shut off their senses when the Indian hockey team was losing games left, right and center? Had they killed their conscience when the weightlifters sent to the Olympics pleaded guilty of doping? Even if the negative aspect is ignored, they haven't applauded Narain Kartikeyan for his stint with Jordan. Nor has Major Rajvardhan Rathore received any laurels for having made us proud at numerous occasions. With one exception, that of Sania Mirza, no sportsman in India has got his/her due if he/she hasn't been associated with cricket. I must say it's become a Big Brother-like figure (at least in India) and probably the next to join my list of hate.
Sad, but then, I am like that only!!!

Could someone please explain

2005-04-17T01:03:00.000+05:30

What the fuck is wrong with our politicians? Are these the guys we "elect" as our leaders?
Last week Maharashtra CM R.R. Patil decided that the dance bars in Mumbai have to close shop. His contention was that it was spoiling the cultural fabric. Rather agreeable and a bold move considering the fact that a lot of revenue (cough) comes through this channel. I was mighty impressed. But the very next day I heard stuff on the news regarding the opposition's view on this. I was surprised (or should I rather not be) that instead of applauding this action, the opposition party was hurling brickbats at the fellow. Their point being that the ruling party is trying to get the focus away from more important issues and is therefore trying to distract the public by creating such controversy. What a shame! And come to think of it, the very same guys from the opposition (BJP) are the ones who want to be the moral police when they are in power. It would have been OK had they thought about the bar girls turning to prostitution after the implementation of the ban. But no, they corroborated the revenue funda and also kept saying that the Congress party has no vision at all. An extremely sad state of affairs.

Dho daala

2005-04-05T16:10:00.000+05:30

I wasn't expecting much from the Indian side, except from Sehwag who's shown great form off lately. Ganguly, true to his form got out on 9 and SRT disappointed me by getting run out cheaply. But then, in came Dhoni with his club and started sending the ball to the fence very frequently. Hitting a handsome 148 off 123 balls, he's given the selectors and John Wright a reason to smile and be proud. Sami, Naved and Arshad Khan won't be forgetting this day any time soon. It was sad to see the tail just wag and dwindle towards the end, with some (but not great) effort from Balaji & Zaheer. I just wish I could have witnessed this ODI live instead of just jumping out of my seat whenever the score on my online score board soared higher after every over.
I haven't seen Dhoni keep wickets yet, so can't say if he's a good replacement for Dravid. What I can say is that he could buttress the slightly flagging top-order or even the faltering middle-order. But it's too soon to comment on it. After all Vizag isn't exaclty Eden Gardens, Lords or Melbourne.

The most powerful weapon

2005-04-04T13:06:00.000+05:30

I know some people are terrified of the bomb and some are terrified to be seen carrying a modern screen magazine. But experience teaches me that silence terrifies people the most.

- Bob Dylan

Just irresistable...

2005-03-22T17:26:00.000+05:30

I came across this article on wired about tilt sensitive games being developed for the Apple Powerbook. But this has nothing to do with laptops. The little disclaimer at the right top corner of this site is what I wish to see more often.

Wrongs done right...

2005-03-22T16:18:00.000+05:30

Finally!
Dalmiya gets his spankin'!
My faith in the judicial system is restored somewhat!

What the f*** is maturity all about

2005-03-16T09:34:00.002+05:30

One of my dear friends (ok it is Adya) had discussed this on his blog some time back. I have been trying to find a good definition of maturity ever since. It's just that the term is so vaguely used these days, and with so many connotations, that one feels lost.
I personally feel that maturity is a mix of various qualities. Having one in a greater extent doesn't necessarily make up for the absence of the other. Here's what I have come up with so far:

Being a good listener. Always an enlightenment methinks.
Taking defeat with grace and not sulks.
Always re-thinking from a different person's perspective.
Accepting people with their shortcomings. It is the toughest according to me.
Not suffocating the people around you by being over-possesive
Adjusting your thoughts and actions according to the situation. Beatitude amongst friends and notority in general public isn't much appreciated.
Drawing the line, not only for the others but for your own actions.
Being tolerant of other people's likes and dislikes. Not everyone likes the same shiz!
Realizing it was your fault and accepting it. Another toughie.

This by no means is an exhaustive list, and you are welcome to add to it. If your views differ from my observation, the comments and the tagboard are all yours. And I am not trying to point anyone out. Just unloading some baggage that I've been carrying around for some time.

� bient�

Italian nights...

2005-02-28T22:20:00.000+05:30

This post is about a weekend which was totally dedicated to gourmet dinners. Aishwarya 'n I managed to rope in Praveen and Keerti for what turned out to be 2 amazing back-to-back nights of continental indulgence. Here's a small and not-so-modest account of it:

Friday night saw the gang making it's way towards Richmond Circle-St.Mark's Road crossing, where Casa Piccola is located. The place isn't all that big but it's been around for 25 years. Located just off the street but at basement level, it's been given a nice look n' feel. Especially when people walk past you it feels like one of those little deli's on a cobble-stoned European street. The bright canopies and patio-like chairs complete the look. But food is certainly the reason for the popularity it enjoys among the Bangalore crowd. And boy, was I eager for a taste, what with Aishwarya raving about it so much the week before. Praveen ordered the Chicken Casserole, Keerti the Fillet O' Fish and I went for Chicken Barbados. Aishwarya being the veggie she is, stuck to the Veg Casserole. I had my first taste of fish that day and I swear it was out of this world. The excellent Barbados Chicken came with garlic bread and some dark zesty sauce, the name of which I fail to recall. Chicken and veggie cassarole were a bit mild but tasty nonetheless. Then came the piece de resistence, the desserts. Chocolate Gateaux, Crepes with Vanilla and Black Forest and Chocolate Mousse soon replaced the empty quarter plates before us. I'd strongly suggest the Crepes with Black Forest, although it's a bit messy. The Crepes just seem to melt in your mouth. Better still is the fact that one can have a very nice meal without burning a hole in one's pockets.
Best part of the dinner though, was the general disconnected chatter that went on. Another plus about the place (for horny guys like myself) is the girls that will go by the place now and then. The word "advantage" (or rather disadvantage) should evoke a few laughs from those present that day.
The very next night was devoted to Spiga. As usual I turned up late from work and Aishwarya was going crazy thinking about how Keerti would react at such procrastination. Thankfully he'd been kept busy with some books at Blossom's in the company of Praveen and Sonal, who was a surprise addition to the list that day. Anyways we quickly moved on to Vittal Mallya street where this cozy little nook is located. As soon as we entered I was reminded of my brother-in-law whose dream had been to start one such eat-out joint back home in Pune. Someday I will convince him to partner me in that venture. Someday soon. The music though, was very much bekaar. Keerti and I walked up to the guy at the bar and asked him to play something different. He replied with a "I-dunno-what-you-are-talking-about" look saying that they played only soft music. I suggested some soft rock numbers but he declined saying that they had only one CD that day. We returned to our seats mumbling curses under our breaths and promising to take the Power Ballads CD the next time we went there. The food was exactly an antithesis of this. The ordering took some time as most of us were not so used to continental food. The dishes aren't very numerous but the chef makes them scruplously. He made a vegetable like Eggplant taste like Ambrossia in what is called the Eggplant Tower. Sonal's Chicken Di Casa and my Peppered Steak were really a treat. The garlic bread that was served with the food was awesome too. Fresh and right out of the oven. Just the way I like it. As we ate, a group of people (actually 5 guys and a dame) walked in and seated themselves across the room. The girl was either drunk or had a very low threshold of humour. Every now and then she'd burst into what felt like a squeal and then laugh as if she'd seen Chris Rock in the buff (I know....the notion is sick and so was her laughter). So after a few instances we decided that we'll employ the P.L.Deshpande technique. For the uninitiated it's on similar lines with 'If you can't beat 'em, join 'em'. So everytime she squealed me n' the gang would laugh equally loud. Somehow it worked and they seemed to sober down. It was so much fun that the main course seemed as if it had just vanished from our plates. There wasn't anything interesting for desserts save for the cheese cake. No one but me felt like one. So I ordered one and as soon as it arrived it was all gone. It tasted heavenly. The mild flavour of mango coupled with the smooth richness of cheese and a layer of biscuit-y crumbs at the base. Something one shouldn't leave this restaurant without. I used to boast about Pune's hangouts but after I visited this place I must say, I'm impressed.

It was a great weekend in retrospect. One that maybe replaced but not to be forgotten. To sum up I could just say what Boston sang over 2 decades back "It's more than a feeling"!!

I have a rare disease....

2005-02-18T10:28:00.000+05:30

As most people at the COEP Quiz Club (as well as some others) know, I have this rare disease. It's bad in the sense that you manage to somehow embarass yourself in the presence of others. It haunts you like the ghost of the worst teacher you've ever had, or the bully who managed to grab hold of you at recess every other day. It makes you wonder why you ever saw the light of the day or walked the face of the earth. It follows you around like a dark cloud pouring and thundering right above your head. It makes you double check the words you are saying. It makes the people around you think you are a madman just out of an isolation hospital. It's been known to repel the closest of acquaintances a person has ever had.

Ladies n' Gentlemen, the dreaded FOOT "IN" MOUTH !!!

Funda of life...

2005-01-28T14:58:00.000+05:30

Sex is not the answer!

"Sex?" is the question.
"Yes!" is the answer.

Guy, are you freakin' outta your mind

2005-01-03T18:50:00.000+05:30

/* Sorry for this extremely delayed post. I was busy with a project and the manager's really riding us. Anyhoo, will try to be more regular henceforth. A new year's resolution, you might say. */

"Are you freakin' outta your mind!"
"WTF dude? I thought we were going to Purple Haze for a coupla beers n' Metal!"
"So you mean to say you're not coming to Styx with us? Man, you've flipped your lid!"
"Chhod ye trek yaar! MG Road jayenge. Mazaa karenge. It's New Year's after all!"

These were the reactions when I told my Bangalore friends (and some abroad) that I was going on a trek this new year's eve. But hardly did they know (and even me at times) that it'd turn out to be one of the best new year's I would have had in years. We got to climb 2 nice peaks, Shivganga and Devrayna Durga, an old fort atop a hill. We climbed the latter on the night of 31st while it was pitch dark amidst the sound of the crickets and the cool December breeze. The morning of the new year held a breath-taking view from where we stood (around 1500 feet above sea level). The entire hill was wrapped in thick fog to about half it's height and the surrounding hills looked like small islands separated from ours by a thick white sea. The second peak, Shivganga, almost knocked the air out of me since it was a very steep climb. But nevertheless I managed to haul my round n' heavy arse up there. We found a few too many monkeys out there, one of whom stole stuff from our knapsacks. I tried to give it some biscuits but it kept looking at the bottle of Sprite that I held in the other hand. After a lot of staring from the simian, I gave up the bottle fearing an attack (Yeah, yeah, laugh it up! You'd do the same if you were there!) The most exciting part however was the drive. I got my first chance to zoom a bike on a highway (National Highway 4, which is so unlike most roads in India). A total of 253.2 KM in two days, a total of 3500+ feet of rock n' dirt and I was about to crash from exhaustion when I reached home. So the point is, all in all it was an extremely different and amazing trip and a very nice way to spend a New Years's weekend.
Now here's what news I got on Sunday, the 2nd of January. Here, in Bangalore, most couples were ensconced in pubs and posh clubs while singletons had to resort to MG Road or Brigades. Sad part of it is that some local (and more outsiders) caused havoc at the most happening place in the garden city, i.e. M.G.Road. Drunk as hell, these rowdies clogged the street since early evening. No passers-by could get away dry. They were shouting expletives on the top of their voices, pushing pillions off bikes and man-handling even groping heedless females who'd probably heard a lot about Bangalore's night life. For those who have similar beliefs, Tuka Mhane, There's very little of it here in this conservative as shit town, if you don't drink or are allergic to pubs. Two of my close friends here narrowly escaped the ordeal. Finding the crowed suffocating, they left the scene early to join the rest of the gang at Styx Pub (my favorite hard rock joint, yay). The ragpickers were busy collecting beer bottles strewn all over the otherwise clean street. The tamasha continued well into the new year, I hear. At around 2 am the police made a grand entry and unleashed a laathi charge in which more innocents rather than the perpetrators were injured. A party to remember a lifetime, what say?

Unlikely heroes

2004-12-30T19:53:00.000+05:30

Yesterday, a good friend got hit on the head. A Mangalore Roof Tile (Elxsi has tried to maintain the Portuguese look of it's first development centre) hit him above the right temple. Unaware of this he kept walking with the rest of us, when one of us spotted the blood. The wound was bleeding profusely and before he knew, his shirt sleeve was drenched. We rushed to hold him up since he fainted at the mere sight of it. A few girls around the corridor screamed as if they got a whiff of a skunk's hindside. One of them ran into the cafeteria (which I later realized was in search of some Savlon) Mind you this person is a 6'3" gigantic Puneri and at around 100+ kgs. he was more than a handful for us 2 shorties. We managed to seat him on a sofa in the reception and dabbed a Savlon soaked cotton on his wound. The girl promptly made a old-style pankhaa out of a newspaper. I remember seeing a faint smile on the bugger's face at that instance!!! Anyhow, we stuffed him into a van and drove him to the nearest hospital. As we were approaching the car, we had to shove a lot of people to clear the way, which included my HR. She got almost blown away by the way I snapped. And later she had no complaints, as she personally came up to me and asked about the hurt dude. Aaah, the bliss of it all!!!
Ok, back at the hospital he was getting dressed by the oh, so beautiful final year medical student. God bless the nurses for having taken an early lunch break. Since my colleague was almost unconscious I had to do some form filling and that's where the problem occured. They needed the father's name and address of permanent residence, which of course a big question mark. Puns apart, I found myself fumbling with my cellphone, calling the HR department and getting all the details of this fellow, who I had met but 4 months back. The nurse arrived and gave me a list of painkillers to be purchased. I went to the pharmacy outside where I found a long queue. Although my friend wasn't in a life-n-death situation, my patience wouldn't allow me to stand in a queue, that too on an uncharacteristically hot December afternoon. The only solace was the chicks from the medical college run by the same trust as the hospital. When it was my number the man across the counter gave me an uninterested look and figured I wasn't a local from my request (which was obviously in hindi). He almost tore the paper with the pull of his snatching action. "Aaram se bhaiyya!" I growled under my breath. He went about his chore. What I found extremely annoying was that this dude was looking at the list as if he had never seen those medicine names before. He used to stand in front of the rack as if staring into space then pull out a box and then replace it. I finally lost my nerve and snapped at him "Kya pehle kabhi dekha nahin kya. Ibuprufen aur amoxicyllin hi to hain!!" He looked at me in the most constipated way and said, "Haii knhow what you whant!!!" (The 'h' (hetch) is crucial to the exact pronunciation). Finally he handed me over the stuff which I paid for and left. The doctor arrived by then and he gave him an injection in each arm. We realized it was 2 hours since the lunch hour was over and decided to hurry back. So we stuffed the bruised guy into the van and returned to the place we call office. Once there, we were flocked by curious (ahem) girls (double ahem). We, especially I, felt like Bruce Willis alighting from the spaceship in Armageddon. Of course there were tales to tell, albeit nothing as dramatic as a space rescue mission. A scratch on the head, that too in an IT company, now that 'is' something!!!

Ten thousand thundering typhoons...

2004-12-21T17:29:00.000+05:30

Here is a complete list of Haddock's abuses, sorted by the book. The person hosting this site must be major Tintin, or rather Captain Haddock fan.

This guy is the soul of Tintin comics if you ask me. Zimbly too good!!!!

My first corporate quiz...

2004-12-20T13:17:00.000+05:30

I represented Tata Elxsi at the SOS Corporate Quiz on Saturday. The HR at the company had a small quiz to filter out 2 teams. Didn't know that my company had so many avid quizzers. Almost everyone who came, seemed to know more than I did. Finally the legacy of COEP Boat Club quizzing made a difference and I, along with 3 others were shortlisted. I paired up with Keetri L N from DSP group for the final showdown.

The main event was at the ITC Windsor Manor Sheraton. The same hotel where Pushpak was shot and believe me it's much better than what we see in the movie. All the wings and floors are named after British lords and their wives, the architecture being heavily Victiorian. Somehow Bangalore has a fixation with naming stuff after the Brits. Anyhow getting back to the event, the organizers SOS and Vakil Housing were introduced. The quizmaster Movin Miranda is a well known figure in Indian quizzing. The guy was the quizzing sensation when I was probably romping around in my diapers and bib. There were teams from biggies like Motorola, Infy, Satyam, Oracle, Wipro, CGI, Mphasis, O&M, HP, Texas Instruments, Intel, ICICI Bank. But we held a big grudge against the organizers for allowing college guys to participate in a corporate quiz. Anyways, I later realized we were being kiddish, trying to run away from competition and somehow managed to convince my partner the same. On the inside I felt a tinge of fear for the aforementioned companies have all got teams who are regulars at corporate quizzing, here in Bangalore. But somehow, our stars were really shining bright that day and we got 23 answers correct out of 35 in the elims. The cut off was at 18 (Ogilvy & Mather).

In the finals, we had a slow start. Rather, out of the eight rounds, we were absolutely scoreless for the first 6 rounds. The score keeper was having a gala time announcing our score with a hint of mischief. He even said "Tata Elxsi seem to be waiting for a mahoorat to open their account." It felt absolutely ludicrous to be sitting there on the stage with better answers coming from the audience. In the 6th round Keerti got one right, putting a handsome(?) 10 points against our name. Before the final round the scorekeeper again quipped, "Although they can't win from the position they are in right now, Elxsi will be happy to be able to exit with some grace." I still don't know what connotation of 'grace' did he intend.

The final round was a theme based one. There was a central theme which was to be identified based on some clues to be found during the round. There were 6 questions, the answers to which would share a common thing between themselves. The standings at this point were

Motorola (80)
IIM-1 (75)
IIM-2 (40)
Ogilvy & Mather (40)
Mphasis (30)
Tata Elxsi (10) (that's us)

The gamble was that if we could identify the theme after the very first question was answered the team would get 50 points, after the second question 40 points and so on. We could however lose 20 points for a wrong answer at any point. O&M got the first question right. Their question was "The members of the British parliament had called a strike as a protest when the Order of the British Empire was conferred upon whom?" The answer was The Beatles. I promptly wrote it down. The next answer "Jacques Chirac" came from the 2nd IIM team lying 3rd. This was where my days at BCQC helped me. The theme was clear and often used in Pune quizzing circuit. It had to be "Real people to have appeared in Asterix Comics". I raised my hand immidiately attracting the quizmaster's attention. I wasn't alone though. The IIM at 2nd position had also got it right. When the quizmaster announced that we both would get the points, we thought he'd split the 40 points, still leaving us at the bottom of the heap. But when I looked at the score board, it showed 50 against Elxsi which was now the 3rd highest score. The next direct was ours. We got it right and steered clear from any danger of being overtaken by any other team. We were so excited that both of us jumped out of our seats for a high 5 and waved at the second team of Satyajit and Gaurav who had also gone hysterical in the last pew.

It was a big upset and everyone congratulated us during the photo session that ensued the prize distribution. Our team also won the best team name award. We called ourselves "Locked Stocks & 2 Smoked Out Squirrels", a name that I had suggested when I partnered Siddharth Natrajan in college quizzes.

It was when I entered the office and a deluge of mails hit my inbox, that I realized the importance of our success. It was a precedent for the company, which enthused the others to take up this activity. The Head of HR has asked us to have regular quizzes so that we can build more teams to send to such events, which are no doubt prestige issues when company profile comes into question.

Anyhoo, the bottomline is.....I'm elated! I'm proud!! O' Hell, I'm so many things at the same time!!! Go Elxsi....Go BCQC !!

It sucks...

2004-12-17T10:48:00.000+05:30

when someone treats you like a kid just because you look younger than your age suggests
when some two-face, no good, colleague steals an opportunity from you
when you see people finding their calling at job or in life, while you don't know what the hell you were doing till date
when you have to reluctantly gulp the crap they serve in the company cafeteria
when people in other companies or departments can find better jobs (mo' money, honey) while you have to worry about a stupid bond that you signed with your firm
when someone takes you for granted
when no one other than you listens to rock in the entire company
when some stupid colleague comes up to you and raves about the latest remix in which a model is bursting out of her clothes
when everyone around you seems to be busy while you sit at you computer typing nonsensical words

Another day...

2004-12-16T14:23:00.000+05:30

I seem to be getting a lot of work done these days. Here's all I accomplished today:

Got rid of the skink. Followed it around while the housekeeping boys at Elxsi poked it out of hiding and drove it out.
Paid my mobile phone bill. Had a lot of issues to settle with the guys at Airtel. Thought today was a nice day to let out all the acerbity I was holding back.
Put up a link to a blog dedicated to Pune Times. You can now visit "A Cruel Waste of Forests" from the link that sits right at the top of the blogroll.
The MS applications continue to amble on. As the deadlines close in, it's time to run the final checks before I submit my applications. Darn these US universities. Can't they have a better system of admission installed?

A not so pertinant fact to part with. When I was studying for GRE I read that cubicle is a small chamber generally used for sleeping. I think I'll be taking things more literally for the rest of the afternoon

;-)

Adios, amigos.

Help...

2004-12-15T10:59:00.000+05:30

There's a small lizard in my cubicle. God knows where it came from. But it's been disturbing me since I arrived in office. I saw it the moment I put my bag down. Right on top of my calvin poster on the softboard. It's been sitting right there for the past 2 hours. Unmoved, unfazed by my attempts to shoo it away. It simply won't budge. I am therefore sitting at an uncomfortable distance from the table. Every little sound startles me. Every now and then my eyes quickly glance at the poster, tracking every small action of this mini-monster......argh I hate this!!!!

No thanks, not any more...

2004-12-14T19:48:00.000+05:30

14th December 2004

Working....

2004-12-14T10:27:00.000+05:30

After a long time at Tata Elxsi, I feel like I have actually worked for what the company pays me!!! According to me work would be when I do some productive activity for the company 3/4th of the time I am in office. I was in my cubicle for around 11 hrs and 46 minutes yesterday. Was working hard at a problem haunting the team for the last two weeks. The hours just seemed to pass me by. No polling the mailbox to check if someone had mailed in the last 30 seconds, no firing up the browser to see if someone had left a comment on the blog, no excuses to stretch and relax my limbs or gulping down oodles of coffee with Marlboro Lights the entire day. Past week and yesterday have been extremely productive and the feeling's exhilarating....or in Dilbert parlance empowering!!!

Two Geniuses

2004-12-10T19:38:00.000+05:30

Today's the day that saw the birth of a poet. A man who rocked the music scene through the 70s. His controversies kept him not only on top of the charts but also endeared him to every rocker. his psychedelic style will be remembered for years to come. Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Mojo Rising or more popularly Jim Morrison from The Doors

Sadly, the day also saw the departure of another great man in the same industry. Shot by a maniac outside a hotel on 8th December 1980, he succumbed to his injuries two days later. This bespecktacled guy stole the heart of many-a-girl with his mop-top buddies. Most of his songs, with the band as well as solo, went on to achieve platinum status. Their song "Yesterday" is the song with the maximum number of cover versions in the world. A legendary singer and humanitarian, who can ever forget John Winston Lennon.

Every year Ten Downing Street in Pune has a party to mark these two events on the 10th of December. I had promised myself I'd attend this bash at least when I start paying my own expenses. But as things go, I can't physically attend. But through the music I intend to live up the memories of these two Gods of music. Peace!!!

Double standards

2004-12-06T01:10:00.000+05:30

I don't know if anyone has ever pondered so hard on the points I am about to enumerate. But to me they seemed important nonetheless. I would expect a huge lot of flames after I post this, but I couldn't care lesser. Anyways, here goes.

If a woman says she can live without a man, she's independent. If a man denies the need for a female counterpart, he's labelled "gay".
If a girl takes up a predominantly male job, she expects to be treated with respect. Would a girl ever date a guy who's loves ballet or kathakali or even worse be a hair stylist?
If a girl respects her parents' wishes, she's firmly attached to her roots. If the guy listens to what his parents have to say, he's mama's boy.
If a girl dumps her boyfriend she's moving on to better things in life, while if a boy dumps his girlfriend he's characterless and philandering.
If the girl seeks a rich mate, she's looking for security. If the guy loves a rich girl, he wants to bag the father-in-law's cash.

Now I won't say I ain't biased. I am. Some even say I am a hardcore MCP. But then things were getting a bit too lop-sided these days. It is the females who are oppressed and are under-privileged, who need the banner of women's liberation to come out and claim equivalence. Not some fucking two-bit socialite whores who need a topic to get off on a lazy sunday afternoon. What's with all this hue and cry by some socially aware sisters (as they like to call themselves)? Oh and did I mention they all travel in their Mercedes' and cannot be seen without their Guccis and Swarovskis. "Oh daaahling, have you seen my new Louis Vuitton Bag? Isn't it just a cutie." And if there's going to be press, they'll be sure to hang out with the hottest little enterpreneur or some other celebrity.

What's the connection between the hags and my bullet points, you say? Well it all boils down to the all time favorite, Pune Times. Every now and then they'll come out with some article corroborating the very points I just thrashed, with some aunty "in focus". Every article that I have till date read in that piece of shit tabloid is how city girls are going through hard times, what should girls look for in a relationship, how girls in pune ache to be socially acceptable on consuming alcohol or smoking. What they conveniently miss out is the not-so-glossy real picture. They have no say on the alarming numbers of female infanticide victims. Nor do they have anything to share about the low education standards in most of Pune's rural neighborhood.
I am sorry if I am hurting anyone who's honest and truly involved in social work, but just so I get the message loud and clear to these brainless metro bitches and especially the dolts at Pune Times, here's what I think of you....

Amazing song

2004-11-29T16:10:00.000+05:30

Here's a gem from the band that snatched the "Best Metal Band" Grammy from Metallica in '89. Gotta love that flute by Ian Anderson.

--

Teacher - Jethro Tull

Well the dawn was coming,
heard him ringing on my bell.
He said, "My name's the teacher",
that is what I call myself.
And I have a lesson
that I must impart to you.
It's an old expression
but I must insist it's true.

Jump up, look around,
find yourself some fun,
no sense in sitting there hating everyone.
No man's an island and his castle isn't home,
the nest is for nothing when the bird has flown."

So I took a journey,
threw my world into the sea.
With me went the teacher
who found fun instead of me.

Hey man, what's the plan, what was that you said?
Sun-tanned, drink in hand, lying there in bed.
I try to socialize but I can't seem to find
what I was looking for, got something on my mind.

Then the teacher told me
it had been a lot of fun.
Thanked me for his ticket
and all that I had done.

Hey man, what's the plan, what was that you said?
Sun-tanned, drink in hand, lying there in bed.
I try to socialize but I can't seem to find
what I was looking for, got something on my mind.

P.S : Edited wrong year on Kunal's suggestion. If you have any doubts regarding the date, please refer to Rollingstone magazine.

The case of the inept English speaker

2004-11-28T13:21:00.000+05:30

Here's a fresh one from the sack. I got a call on 26th November at 6:57 AM. It was an unfamiliar voice that greeted me....

Me: Hello....
Caller: Who is this? (Buddy, it's me who should be asking this question)
Me: This is Anup....may I know who's calling?
Caller: S*. I friend of R*. I want talk to you.(It starts)
Me: Yes....oh R*....okay....what do you want to talk about? (Why the hell did you call me at this time)
Caller: I get call from Tata Elxsi (my company)....I have test....interview....at 10....I want to talk about that...
Me: Certainly....TEL is looking for freshers....that is 2004 passouts....had you sent them your resume stating your average score....because they are pretty strict about the minimum percentage....they've asked for 70% aggregate, you know!
Caller: Yes....I send mail last week....today I got test....so want help from you....
Me: What was your aggregate for engineering?
Caller: 68%.
Me: And which university was your college affiliated?
Caller: Chaudhary Charan Singh University, UP.....but I need your help.
Me: Uh....in what way could I help?
Caller: I want question paper!
Me: WHAT??? Come aga.... (I was surprised at the audacity of the demand)
Caller: I want paper (a bit louder and cutting me off) .... test paper...
Me: I'm sorry I can't help you with that....the HR department has possession of all testing material....(and I wouldn't give it to you even if I had it, bonehead)
Caller: But R* tell you can help....so I call you....you help R* also na! (What do I make out of this drivel)
Me: But I only discussed the paper sections with R. Just told him which areas the test concentrated on and what he should read befo....
Caller: (Jumping the gun and again cutting my sentence) I WANT THAT....the only question type....is there technical or business or practical knowledge....If they want basic technical funda or CAT like apti test (he used this very abbreviation....What the fuck is this, dude?)
Me: Alright....see the test is divided into two parts. Technical and General Aptitude. Each section has 30 questions. You have 30 minutes to answer each section. Sometimes there maybe more technical or aptitude questions...like in my case there were 45 in the technical section.
Caller: Business questions (It's aptitude, moron)....level is hard...(I don't know whether a question mark goes here, coz it sure didn't sound that way)
Me: No, no. Not at all. In fact it's pretty easy. Nothing outside your previous curriculum. Problems like trains travelling towards each other, work distribution, kids' ages, venn diagrams (What the fuck was I talking about?)
Caller: What level? (If brevity is soul, dude, you're Marvin Gaye)
Me: Pretty easy.....I did pretty well without much studying.....so you should do alright.
Caller: Ok....ok (finally.....I thought it's over)
Me: Cool.....so best of luck with your test. And let me know if you need help at TEL. My extension number is ****.
Caller: WAIT. I need help on Parrot.
Me: What's Parrot?
Caller: Parrot System Limited. It is near to your company only. I get call from there also. I got test there at 11:30....
Me: Oh, you mean Perot Systems. It's a nice company. You should go for the test surely. But I can't help you with that.....
Caller: No....Can I attend the Elxsi 8 batch?
Me: What's the 8 batch?
Caller: 8 o'clock....second batch.....today 2 batches. I then go to Parrot easily......
Me: Sorry but you'll have to contact the HR for this. If you want I can give you his number.
Caller: I have it. But I thought you can help with shift my batch to 8 wala batch.
Me: Actually, the HR department is totally different. I as a programmer have no say in their functioning. I'll try anyways.
Caller: Ok. If you change the batch.....then call me on this number. I am going to mandir for prayer.....I never go to a test without prayer......(Yeah you can skip the studies and spend a day prior to the test in a Yagna maybe. And just why the fuck was this necessary for me to know)
Me: Okay.....fine. Bye then....I don't think I will go to office that early anyways. So I will try to call up Ajay, my HR and ask him. Ok.
Caller: Yes. But give me info about 8 batch....I am waiting.
Me: Fine....bye. (You horrendous SOB)

Well, that's all I can remember.......have a few more of such incidents in the kitty but that's for the some other time.......If I get any more calls like this I think I'd probably smash my cellphone to the last IC.

Starting a new series

2004-11-28T13:03:00.000+05:30

Hi all,
Am starting a small series of posts on some phone calls I have been receiving these days. What's interesting in phone calls, you might say? Well the interesting thing is that all these calls come at around 7 am. That's most disturbing for a sleep-lover like me, 'cos that's when the sandman's magic kicks in. It's the time when the Bangalore air is the coolest and the blanket wrapped around me feels like absolute heaven. Due to such interference, my reaction to these phone calls may be a bit disturbing to the reader. Be warned. I won't be responsible for any side effects.
Anyways, here goes nothing....

The HR department.......

2004-11-23T15:18:00.000+05:30

Terrorist : One who governs by terrorism or intimidation

The Terminal

2004-11-05T13:15:00.000+05:30

Had a chance to see this movie lately......what else with the stupid moratortium in the state. Tom Hanks seems to bring out the best in Steven Speilberg. The movie doesn't have much of a storyline, but gives you a lot to think. Patriotism, perseverence, sacrifice, friendship, love and the flawed American Legal System. Kudos to the Hanks-Spielberg duo once again!!!

Long time no say....

2004-11-05T13:11:00.000+05:30

It's been quite a haitus. And for no particular reason. However it doesn't mean there wasn't something keeping me busy. Not being used to working (as we are in COEP) is quite a bane, especially when someone's paying you for it. It was but natural that all other activities including blogging took a backseat. But I promise to be more regular from here on......

Sad........

2004-09-11T22:24:00.000+05:30

It's 11th September. A date that's an absolute tear-jerker for every American, irrespective of his/her color or country of origin. But Bangalore is not mourning. I don't expect it to, either. But what hurts me, is a news I read in today's paper.

Instead of having peaceful candlelit vigils or memorial services (at least for the Indians who lost their lives in the tragic incidence), there are some boneheads in this God forsaken piece of land (which they affectionately call a city), who want to celebrate the event with an all night bash. They are going to have re-enactments of the tragic incident in the form of scale models. And not to forget the paraphernalia. There will be a DJ playing the raciest trance music, loud and colorful firecrackers, exotic cuisine........all the bells and whistles.

How hopelessly demented! A city whose economy breathes in-&-out in rhytm with the price of the US dollar, has no sentiments for it's benefactor. Not even for compatriots who lost their lives for no fault of theirs. Instead it is so thick-skulled that it is allowing a handful of people, turn the solemn occasion into a crass, insensitive demonstration.

Bad..........really bad!!!!

How true.........

2004-09-05T13:13:00.000+05:30

A few notable words from "the" man himself.

Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.
-Albert Einstein.

Gmail

2004-09-04T16:00:00.000+05:30

Got a Gmail account last week. God bless Sudhir, the noble soul who sent me an invit. Although I do appreciate the simplistic, lightweight interface of Gmail, I simply couldn't make the happy feeling of owning one, stay much longer. Was it the space provided and novelty of the service that made it delectable or was simply the inability to obtain it through normal sign-up procedure, that made it so prized a possession. I'll never know, 'cos I ain't putting too much thought into this one, for I am waiting that someone will invite me to Orkut, a community which follows a registration policy similar to Gmail.

P.S : If anyone needs an account at Gmail, please write me at anup.mankar@gmail.com. I have 6 invitations to be given away as of today. First-come-first-served.

Electronics never fails to amaze......

2004-09-02T15:00:00.000+05:30

In one of my training sessions here at Tata Elxsi, there was a session on encoding and decoding. When the sound recording slide came up, I had to ask a lingering doubt of mine. Why 44.1 khz for sound recording? According to Nyquist rate, anything near-about 40 khz should be enough. Why such an odd number? The trainer, a retired Director of DRDO (Bangalore) and a pretty good teacher, instead of shoo-ing me away without an answer (the expected behavior in COEP), said he'd answer me the next day. Here's what he dug out of an electronics journal and read out the next day.

In the early days of digital audio research, the necessary bandwidth of about 1 Mbps per audio channel was difficult to store. Disk drives had the bandwidth but not the capacity for long recording time, so attention turned to video recorders. These were adapted to store audio samples by creating a pseudo-video waveform which would convey binary as black and white levels. The sampling rate of such a system is constrained to relate simply to the field rate and field structure of the television standard used, so that an integer number of samples can be stored on each usable TV line in the field. Such a recording can be made on a monochrome recorder, and these recording are made in two standards, 525 lines at 60 Hz and 625 lines at 50 Hz. Thus it is possible to find a frequency which is a common multiple of the two and is also suitable for use as a sampling rate.

The allowable sampling rates in a pseudo-video system can be deduced by multiplying the field rate by the number of active lines in a field (blanking lines cannot be used) and again by the number of samples in a line. By careful choice of parameters it is possible to use either 525/60 or 625/50 video with a sampling rate of 44.1KHz.
In 60 Hz video, there are 35 blanked lines, leaving 490 lines per frame or 245 lines per field, so the sampling rate is given by :
60 X 245 X 3 = 44.1 KHz
In 50 Hz video, there are 37 lines of blanking, leaving 588 active lines per frame, or 294 per field, so the same sampling rate is given by
50 X 294 X3 = 44.1 Khz.
The sampling rate of 44.1 KHz came to be that of the Compact Disc. Even though CD has no video circuitry, the equipment used to make CD masters is video based and determines the sampling rate.

Now that's what I call an amazing hack, an electronic one at that.

Another change in name...

2004-08-23T18:52:00.000+05:30

No, no..........I don't intend to say that I equal the power or acumen of the Great Roman Emperors. It's just that I wanted a better name than the blog carried previously. Was listening to Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody in the morning. Was thinking about people's blogs at that time. Some of them have pretty cool names. This name just struck me, since I was brought into the world due to a certain medical procedure named after the great king who ruled Ancient Rome. Hopefully this one will stay on longer than the predecessors.

Toodles.

Aching to break free in an alien town

2004-08-21T12:19:00.000+05:30

It's been quite some time since I posted. There are many reasons. The major one was that I wanted the homesick feeling to leave me before I could write anything lest it affect my opinion of the place. It's been 3 long weeks but the city hasn't earned any respect whatsoever from me. And I am not alone in this stance. Many people who have been staying away from home for almost a year or more carry the same thoughts.

The day I left Pune, I had expected Bangalore to be a city. When I say city, I expect Bombay or New Delhi. A place oozing with modernism. Not only in the culture but the taste and standard of living. But what I was greeted with wasn't too exciting or enticing. The city hardly has any glitzy, high-rise structures, save for IT companies.(Call me shallow, but that's what I am!) The road transport is absolutely crappy. Buses are too infrequent and heavily crowded, while rickshaw drivers won't go where you to. Business and entertainment zones (if there is any) are far from the residential ones. Being the IT hub doesn't seem to have affected Bangalore a lot. Thankfully almost everyone speaks either English or Hindi. So one need not feel too uncomfortable. Everyone here (right from a kindergarten kid to an IT head honcho) seems to be in some sort of a hurry at all times. Even on weekends.

About me? I have been put on a 3 week training schedule, which ends on next Tuesday (yay!). I hope the company will put me on a project then. Living all by myself (so what if I share the pad with 3 others) is boring. I keep waiting for the weekend only to find that there's hardly anything to do on saturday. Sunday is almost totally dedicated to sleeping and eating. Bangalore is a good place if you and a buch of friends drink. There are a lot of pubs around here. Most of them play remixes or electro-indi-firangi pop (read sick music) Since I am not that much of a pub person and I prefer rock music, I have to scourge the city for other alternatives.

That's all for now. My brains more tired than my fingers. Will produce an addendum to this soon. Till then, give my blog meaningless hits.

Sayonara.

Good bye Pune.......at least for now

2004-07-29T22:12:00.000+05:30

I am leaving for Bangalore on Saturday, 31st July. For good or bad, I know not. One thing I know for sure is that it's that time when one has to give up all things that were treasured and protected over a long period of time. The "dont-care" attitude, the double meaning jokes, my worn-out jeans and most of all my friends. Not that I'll give up on any of these. It's just that there will never be enough time to be like we were back in college. Boy, I sure will miss those days.
This may be the last post for a while. At least until I get my own computer at the company with a continuous, all access, net connection. Catch you guys then.

Spiderman....or Makdipurush

2004-07-23T09:58:00.000+05:30

Opened today's Pune (Sleaze) Times and found another shocking story on the front page. Spiderman is being brought to India, in a totally new avtaar.

Last month, Marvel Comics USA decided to bring Spiderman to India. Not in a dubbed version, but a total makeover. An Indian superhero who has a totally different origin. A village kid called Pavitr Prabhakar is the central character, ladies n' gentlemen. He'll be swinging from places like the Gateway of India and Taj Mahal (let's hope he doesn't run into trouble with heritage activists). All the while, our superhero is clad in a dhoti with some sort of a red spidey-style belt. And not to forget a ponytail to complete the look. oooh.......how trendy?!

He transforms into the famous swinger (whooppiiee) after being blessed by a rishi who has been performing some sort of yagna. And our hero here, will be facing no mean adversary. The Green Goblin or Dr. Octopus have no stand before the ever scary Rakshasa. I wonder how many hours it took them to think up that name!

Pretty rad, huh! The producer says it will all give spiderman the closer-to-the-heart mythological feel. The kids will readily accept this new and improved (?) spidey. It's better for both the parties he says.

"Bull crap!" I say. Why does it always have to be some mytho crap when it comes to kids' entertainment? I fear another Alif Laila is about to happen. Will someone put a leash on the imagination of these guys? You could have at least let the cartoons retain their entity in entirity. I hope they don't play with the name at least. I remember "Tomb Raider" being marketed as "Sherni No. 1" some years back and "Stanley Ipkiss" being mutated to "Sachin Sabnis". Do these guys live in some remote village where it's a taboo to use foreign names?

The horror.......the horror.......the horror!!!!

Another good reason to Yahoo...

2004-07-22T22:29:00.000+05:30

Yahoo's been one of my favorite portals for a long time now. Their chat was the only one around when the concept hit India. The email service was (and still is) fundoo. Recently they raised the mailbox limit to 100MB. I was happy that I wouldn't have to pay or have to wait for invitations from people to have a decent no-nonsense email service.
Now they have given me another reason to be loyal. I discovered LaunchCast. Finally there's a place I can find some good 80's music. Anyways, about LaunchCast.....it's a cool service whereby one can listen to songs, sorted by genre, in the messenger itself. Something like Shoutcast started by Nullsoft (the Winamp guys) which was the pioneer in web radio. However I found LaunchCast better since it gave me a good sound quality and longer listening intervals than Shoutcast (even at dialup speeds) . Check it out, here.

Being left out...for the nth time

2004-07-20T17:11:00.000+05:30

I am furious.....

Two of my closest friends are going around for the last couple of days, and I wasn't told about it until today.....I feel violated.....even molested, if one may say so......

Just the day before yesterday, we were hanging out at a friend's house, which happens to be close to her place. Me going to her place that day, felt like being a wine bottle, a bouquet of flowers or a candy box in retrospect. Ouch! At least I could have been the first to know.........but no, I get sidelined by a two bit someone out there.

Not that I am not happy for those two individuals. But I felt bad when they had to hide it from me while talking on the phone, when I was around. And one of them happens to know me since school.

Some faith, huh guys!

Going to the dogs...redefined...

2004-07-19T14:14:00.000+05:30

I like to read old newspapers sometimes. It gives me a chance to read stuff that I may have missed out earlier. There isn't a lot you can read in today's newspapers (TOI for example). But then again it is the only media that gives me the information at a comfortable pace so that I can digest it. Jug Suraiya's column dedicated to acerbic critique on the current haalaat is a personal favorite.

The supplements (read Pune Times) are slowly turning into American Fitness Magazine look-alikes, though. Sadly something that can be used to showcase local news, is being used to popularize :

uneducated hotel and multiplex owners
half baked ABCDs who want to draw the spotlight onto themselves and 'happen' to be friends with someone from the press
DJs with remix videos that have a dancer whose skin is oozing out of whatever little threads are attempting to cover her body
models with sub-zero IQs trying to emphasize the point that they "actually thought" before deciding to do an item number (take a hike)
businessmen with villas at a popular foreign location (eg. overlooking the Monaco GP track)
gay fashion gurus or women in their late 40s-50s who fancy young lads and happen to be sources of terminology like metrosexual (yuck........isn't it time for your face lift ma'am or was it a liposuction)
demigods, politicians and other such low-life with a penchant for Page 3.

Whatever little space is left after all this pandering, is taken up by advertisements where people promise to take off weight from around your waist or help you cover up your scalp more gracefully. The only thing that eventually slims is your wallet and the only stuff that grows is cobwebs in the bank locker.

I tried changing the newpaper once, but it's all the same everywhere. All of them are trying to pack in that little bit extra masala to improve the readership survey figures. Sunday reading is thankfully still in shape with a little more paper left to print articles, after the ads have been laid out.

All I can say is 'God help the reader....'

Going away...

2004-07-18T23:21:00.000+05:30

The feeling of going away to a distant land is finally beginning to sink in. I haven't stayed away from home earlier. Well, at least not for as long as this job expects me to. Staying with my relatives at my native place doesn't count. It was almost like home. Minus the continuous nagging to clean up my room or running an errand (which I usually shrug off anyways).

I hadn't thought about all the extra work this meant. Washing, ironing, cleaning, shopping, groceries, even the occasional cooking......the list seems endless. No more familiarity of my room. No more home cooked food. No more convenience of playing Age of Empires late into the nights. No more listening to Megadeth at full volume. No more internet-at-my-disposal. Can it get any worse?

Sad but true.....baah, it had to happen some day!!! But why now?

A joke held back for the weekend...

2004-07-18T21:12:00.000+05:30

Was hanging out at Oasis with some friends the other day. One of them a tax consultant (let's call him X), but kind of interested in Marathi theatre was in a particularly cheerful mood that day. He's done couple of shows with some pretty well known faces from the field. Jokes and anecdotes were passing across the table and so, he decided to share a rather funny incident with us.....took me some time to figure out what it meant. But it took me 5 minutes to stop laughing after I got the joke. Anyways, here's how it goes :

It is the night before the dress rehearsal of a play. The director is giving people instructions about their attire. He tells X's friend, who was to be a baldy in the play, to get his hair trimmed. The next day, this dude walks onto the sets with a hairstyle somewhat inspired by Salman Khan in Tere Naam (apologies for not having thought of a better example). The director, who was obviously pissed, approached him and enquired about his non-compliance.
He promptly replies with an, "Aai naahi mhanaalee, re!" (My mom refused.)
The director is quick to shoot back, "Arre mag nhavya kade jaycha naa." (You should have visited the barber in that case.)

Think about it....

Silly, huh? Well, can't help it. There's been a drought of jokes lately.

Adios amigos.

Finally...Bangalore here I come

2004-07-16T23:45:00.000+05:30

After a lot of email badgering, the good guys at Tata Elxsi have given me a final joining date. I have to report at the Bangalore office on the 2nd of August 2004 at 0930 hrs. I feel really relieved now that I have confirmation of a job in hand.

When the exams got over, I had no concerns with anything other than pure enjoyment. Back-to-back movies, countless hours of gaming on the PS2 and hours together of hanging out at food & coffee joints. Life was (and still is) pure bliss. But as my classmates started sending in emails about their respective first days at the job, a certain feeling began haunting me. Since I was the only one without a certain date of joining, I thought 'What if Tata Elxsi doesn't appoint me?' Then I consulted my father, who only added more fuel to the fire by saying 'It's not binding on them to appoint you, even if they say you've been recruited.' Since then I have been flooding the HR's mailbox with pleas to give me a clear-cut date.

Today since I read the email, my joy's known no bounds. Although I haven't stayed alone before, and Bangalore is as good as an alien land to me, I am really looking forward to this experience. My parents, especially my mom, look upon it as something I need to go through so that I'll "grow up". Haah, fat chance of that happening.

Firefox...

2004-07-16T01:21:00.000+05:30

Been using Mozilla Firefox 0.9 for all my browsing activities, all of last week. I found a small link where the page says MSIE 6.0 has a lot of bugs that may not even get patched up by XP Service Pack 2. Not that I am totally paranoid about security, but the author of that little article sounded very convincing. Hence the switch...

I don't miss IE though. Firefox has support for most IE plugins and has a facility to install optional extensions and skins (my favorite). And it's blazingly fast. IE seems like bullock cart when compared to the BMW-like Firefox. (sorry, but I don't favor Ferrari too much)

Another reason for this shift is the induction of a certain someone into Microsoft. Due to the presence of that someone in the company creating the software I am presently using, my resolve to make a complete shift to freeware, more specifically Linux, has been reinforced.

I pray to God, to give me enough strength and patience to refrain from using this crappy piece-of-dung software and deliverance from fear of mockery by my unforeseeing friends, that this activity of mine shall entail.

Hasta Luego crappy browser...

A pun...unintended

2004-07-14T22:56:00.000+05:30

Niranjan and I saw a round neck Barking Dog T-Shirt the other day. Niranjan wanted to buy it. But it was available in white. Not wanting to buy any whites, he promptly moved on to other sections. I, on the other hand was trying to give him reasons for buying the shirt, like 'You could wear it to a party'...'You are going to the US, get some attitude into your clothes' and some such. The main reason I persisted was because the punch line was closer to the heart. It read 'Beer makes you smart. It made Bud Wiser'
Niranjan denied on the grounds that it was white. 'What if it rains? I can't be washing clothes all the time...'
I came up with this
'Come on dude. I know it's USA, but there are going to be Dry Days out there.'

Both of us were in splits. We didn't buy that T-Shirt, but left with 3 others (non-whites).

This I thought deserved a spot on this good-for-nothing-else nook of mine.

Ciao.

Getting back with old friends...

2004-07-13T21:54:00.000+05:30

Nice day today...

Slept in late ... after I had finished seeing Die Hard 2 for the nth time ... just can't get enough action. What with all those soppy soaps and extrra marital (or martial or matriarchal) affairs polluting the boob (oops) tube.

Anyways, got a call from Mr. Rahul Srinivas as I was sipping my morning (?) coffee. Met him and some other friends over lunch. He had some really interesting stuff (and a nice 20s pack of Wills) to share. He was telling how he finds time to chill out and is having a good time out there in the supposedly bland state of North Carolina. It created a really nice picture of the Univ. life for me. Things moved from there to the usual BC chatter ... like who's going around with whom ... is the system still the same in PIET ... how life sucks ... Soon it was time to revert to reality though.

We split and I drove with Niranjan for more shopping ... ugh, more exercise for my feet ... but then I like to aimlessly roam around the streets and stare endlessly at the items on display (including the females at the perfume counter in Shoppers' Stop) ... I'm like that only ... For the first time in weeks I realized that I need to do some shopping for myself too. But being the slob that I am, I conveniently pushed the activity onto another (and probably rainy) day.

Finally went to boat club to congratulate a friend who got into Cognizant yesterday. He has planned a lunch party tomorrow ... won't miss it ;) ...

A thought to part with:
A wise man has not more knowledge than his opponent. It's just that his ignorance is better organized.

Ciao.

Being realistic...

2004-07-05T22:34:00.000+05:30

Met Ameya and Bhavna on my way back on J.M Road today. Both of them seemed pretty happy and were positively looking forward to flying off and joining their university courses. I was accompanying Niranjan to the computer dealer, for he wanted to buy a printer. He too, by the way is leaving for the free land in a month's time.

For the first time I felt having erred in not applying with my batchmates. They are all getting educated while they still can. I thought 'God knows if I might be interested in studying after having worked for, say 2 years'. I remember having discussed this with Ramanand a few months back. He said it's a very individual matter. I must say I agree with that statement. It's not whether you'd be interested in MS after settling into the job. It's whether you are interested in studying at all. Plus it's good if you get used to the kind of professionalism that is expected at that level of education. I certainly feel a year or two of work experience would help me improve. Especially in areas where I have to meet deadlines or balancing my schedule to fit in a lot of stuff.

So that about settles it for me. I can now live another month peacefully without feeling guilty for not having given MS a thought. I know I would still go and get a Master's if I kept myself open to the notion of studying later in life.

This thought keeps me holding on to the job...that and my horrible GRE score ;)

Telephone bill...

2004-07-04T21:41:00.000+05:30

BSNL is very regular in one activity. Delivering the monthly (or is it bi-monthly) usage bill. After all the hours that the phone line has been dead in the last month, I was forced to think whether the name "usage charges" is fit for that amount that they had shamelessly quoted.
Anyways, the look on my mother's face after looking at the bill would put Munch's Scream to shame. My dad sincerely entered the amount into the excel sheet he has maintained over the past few years and showed me a histogram. The monotonuously rising curve and the raised eyebrow on my father's forehead made me uneasy...although only momentarily. Being the shameless creature I am, I promptly connected exactly 45 minutes later and fired up my browser for yet another blissful browse(arrrggghhh... it's getting to me y'know)
But I am starting to get the feeling that I might soon be thrown out, if I don't mend my ways. Anybody got a spare room with a telephone connection... ;)

Changing the name of the blog...

2004-07-04T17:37:00.000+05:30

The blog used to go by the name, "Assume something witty here!" I used to think it would be ideal to depict my utter negligence towards anything. But then, something always told me that it doesn't really sound too good. So I thought about it for some days and searched around for good suggestions. Nothing came by. Then something hit me like a fly on a biker's helmet on an interstate.
People have always treated me like a passe techie, who is trying to impress everyone around with his stale (often second hand) knowledge. Hence, I thought why not use the time honored tradition to get a dhaasu name for my blog. Sure it isn't all that peppy and catchy like yet another compiler-compiler but it's better than nothing.

I'll leave you at that...over n out!!!

Killing time...

2004-06-20T23:37:00.000+05:30

It's past my regular bedtime (it's been 10 pm since the last paper). I am sitting in front of the computer aimlessly typing out lines that I know that no one's going to spend even two minutes to read. Anyways, I have learnt one thing from my final year project. Every activity has one requirement to be completed. "It's gotta be done!" And I need to keep posting to keep this blog going on. Hence this pointless note.

Also I would like to advertise the Atom feed for my blog.

It's http://seymourprivates.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Ciao.

First post...

2004-06-19T21:41:00.000+05:30

Testing 1...2...3...!
My first post to this blog.
Hope I can keep this going...