The Days Of Our Lives

I no longer live here anymore

2008-08-06T11:51:00.000-07:00

I've moved to an underground bunker completely cut off from all civilization.

Thanks for visiting and wasting your time reading my crap.

:-)

I don't understand women

2008-06-30T03:21:00.000-07:00

I just don't. I have never been able to comprehend them, nor do I think I ever will be able to. A woman is just too complex a creation of God and I wonder if man possesses the ability to understand what a woman wants/expects from him. Their minds work in such mysteriously different ways.

If "Are you able to guess a woman's mind?" was a reality show on TV for men, no one would ever win (no man atleast). The contestants would just jump off the 5th floor of the building, where the shooting would be taking place, after losing all their accumulated wealth horribly. Yet, every week there would be some poor SOB trying his luck - "Such a simple show! I bet I could easily win it!!" Tsk tsk! Such over-confidence would ~~rarely~~ NEVER reap results. Yet, somehow this show would go on forever. Because men don't like to lose. Atleast men don't think they would lose.

I seriously think it would be easier turning gay than trying to make sense of our oppositely-gendered partners. Then, even the concept of romantic nights and boys-night-out would be same. But then, the women couples would go absolutely crazy bickering over trivial things! Ha ha...FATALITY!!

P.S.: A quote by my friend Vartika sums up relationships nicely :

"Relationships are not about being fair
They are about being there.

The unreachable greener pasture

2008-06-24T14:31:00.000-07:00

The fact that I write this post at about 2:30 at night must mean that it deals with an issue which is plaguing me dearly and it is rightly so. It is said that grass is greener on the other side; I completely agree with it. Infact, I've learnt that I hunger for things I do not possess (like all mortal men do) but procuring them does not end my hunger. It merely redirects itself to other greener pastures and some pastures which are not so greener than my own.

I've had a good life - infact quite a terrific life - so far. I've been at some good places and I've stood out from the crowd. At the age of 24 I've achieved quite a lot of things men do quite later in their life. I'm not stating that I stand supreme; there are lots I know personally who are way above me and who inspire me. But I lead a happy life right now. After being away from home for my college studies, I was lucky enough to land back in my hometown. I have quite a unique job - not only has it led me to work with some of the most brilliant people I have ever know, it gives me the freedom to not having to follow mindless work ethics and gives me the pride to know that I am competitively placed among my peers. I've gotten back to my hobbies which I had left for whatever reasons and I have ample time to attend to my social needs. No job is perfect, but my current one comes quite close.

Yet, I am not content. The reason eludes me somehow. Perhaps I subconsciously yearn for a alternate course of future suggested to me by family. Perhaps I am trying to make some of the aspirations of my friends, my own. The fact remains that I wish to change certain aspects of my nearly perfect life for a much more painful adventure, whose end result I am unaware of.

Many would believe that true happiness lies in being satisfied with what one has. I think the illusion of their wonderland follows the principle of Ignorance is bliss. For me, I think, its time for a change.

Of retarded reality shows and a request to their producers

2008-06-16T09:21:00.000-07:00

I like VH1. I've liked it ever since I was in Bangalore doing my internship; when I was living in a house with some 12 other batchmates of mine - and we had only one TV. We all unanimously used to watch VH1. Morning, night - we used to watch it all the time. These days, I sometimes have the TV on for some background noise and what better than to watch skimpily-clad women dance about with music playing. (More of that later for me ;) )

Anyway, VH1 has some pretty retarded shows related to musicians (which is probably because musicians are supposed to make music; not talk about their homes and all), an exception being 'Pimp My Ride' (I dunno why they show it on VH1 though). Today, I just switched to VH1 and saw this show called 'The White Rapper Show' (I'm sure it has a shady inspiration behind it). This show had some 10 white guys/gals pretending to be the next (you guessed it) 'White Rapper' (sheesh!!)

The 10 of them were split in 2 groups and had to go about their ghetto doing rap infront of the local black boys and some old grandpas probably wanting to catch up on some sleep and being rudely interrupted by these bozos making sure not only did they not let them sleep but also tortured them by making them listen to their 'talent'. The only saving grace - one of them did seem like the next Eminem;he dressed like him too. And at night, they showed the 'rappers' getting right in the characters by getting completely drunk and calling each other the N* word. Wow. This show is sure to take away the 'idiot' from the idiot box!!

If only it ended with that, this post would not have been there; but no, like all reality shows, there had to be an elimination round - in which 1/2 the 'pennywises' were confined to a room (which was all white...ZOMG, can this show get any worse?!) and made to write lyrics to be ~~recited~~ rapped in front of the I-have-no-expressions-whatsoever host/judge. To think the Enimem wannabe would easily stand out was an understatement; it seems our wannabe friend didn't write any lyrics at all (WTF!), which made the host/judge blurt out explicits and make completely brainless outbursts such as 'This is not a game!' (Really Einstein??)

All in all, good stuff. My faith in the retarded-ness of reality shows is completely reinstated. Which brings me to the second part of my post (read the title carefully). A word to the producers who pour money in this garbage - "The next you feel like putting your extra dollars to good use, GIVE IT TO ME!!" (I'll give you a hug in return.)

Why I Love Video Games

2008-06-09T15:58:00.001-07:00

How else can you pick up and throw cows at police cars (and unsuspecting, innocent pedestrians) at 4 in the morning?!!

[The Incredible Hulk - Ultimate Destruction]

The end of carefree days

2008-06-01T12:49:00.000-07:00

I've come to realize now that carefree days end when one starts earning. It really is a world which is dictated by money, and most of the time it is a 15-rounds match between money and happiness. Heres my take on the 'why'.

During school and college days, one hardly used to care about saving any money, since good ol' mom and dad used to provide a steady monthly pocket money. It was that steady minuscule income which kept things carefree, since all the (also minuscule) demands were met by that. But once you start earning your own money, your demands would go up - the latest cellphone/laptop, a big LCD TV, a nice car, etcetera etcetera. Not only that but (somehow) all these expenses get added on; like petrol costs, grocery costs, eating-out costs and lavish birthday/raise/promotion/anniversary treats. Hence, proper monetary management can no longer be ignored.

And then one gets to hear about friends/colleagues investing in the stock market and making profits (nobody talks about making losses though. ;) ) And, on surfing channels during the IPL breaks, all you would hear about was the rising inflation. Thats when the realization strikes that just saving money would not cut it; even your already-earned money would need to grow.

Thats when the stock market comes into the picture. But to be a 'clever' investor, one must monitor it continuously. It is your hard-earned money after all. So, endless hours in front of the computer screen are spend looking at numbers and analyzing charts. Add that to the hectic money-earner job hours and hours spent per day on miscellaneous grown-up day-to-day surviving activities and there you have it folks - the end of carefree days.

(And all this while not even considering marriage into the picture, nor raising kids! Egads!!)

Ending thoughts: Theres a popular joke which mentions how much better life would be if it were in reverse - starting with old age, moving on to raising kids and earning money, and then to being in college/school, running around as little kids and finally ending up as a foetus in a womb. How I couldn't agree more.

Bioshock

2008-05-25T13:04:00.000-07:00

I write about movies all the time so a post about a video game shouldn't seem too far off. As I've mentioned before, I absolutely adore a well told story. Most video games are too bang-bang to focus on a good story but there comes along one in a while which puts good fiction novels to shame. And since as a gamer, you get to be an interactive part of the story, it makes the experience unforgettable.

Take the case of Bioshock, a video game released last year. I've been playing it for a while (the hard part is just getting started; its impossible to put down) and it has completely sucked me in. Bioshock, in short, is about an underwater utopia gone horribly wrong. The protagonist is a mysterious figure by the name of Jack who survives a plane crash over the Atlantic and discovers an (erstwhile) underwater haven called Rapture. Conceptualized by the objectivist Andrew Ryan, Rapture was intended as a self sufficient sanctuary comprising of the best and brightest individuals whose creativity/brilliance would not be held back by socio-political constraints.

I am Andrew Ryan and I am here to ask you a question:
Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his own brow?

No, says the man in Washington. It belongs to the poor.
No, says the man in the Vatican. It belongs to God.
No, says the man in Moscow. It belongs to everyone.

I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something
different. I chose the impossible. I chose...
Rapture.

Andrew Ryan

As Jack, the gamer gets to explore this world and piece together its history. Might I add, Rapture, itself, is hideously beautiful.

Being a game, of course, Bioshock has its fair share of enemies jumping at you left-right-and-center but what makes this game truly unique are two particular character types - called 'Big Daddy' and 'Little Sister'. Big Daddies are creatures who, due to being fitted inside irremovable metallic body armour, resemble enormous deep-sea divers; their only sole objective being to protect the Little Sisters. The Little Sisters are small (very cute looking frock-wearing) girls who wander about Rapture collecting genetic-enhancing bio-material (or something like that). Deeply twisted storyline, huh? Anyway, after defeating the hard-as-nails Big Daddies, the player has to choose between either freeing the little girl or killing her. And here is where comes morality into play. Does one go the righteous way or commit sin, thereby earning more points?

And that, in a gist, is Bioshock. Three cheers to game makers who treat their audience as mature and intelligent beings, and who have the creativity to envision such an unforgettable experience.

Generation W

2008-05-23T12:37:00.000-07:00

Lately I've been hearing a lot about my friends (or their friends) being forced to marry as per their parents wishes even though they might already be in since-forever relationships. One would think this is the case in rural parts of our great nation, but it seems it is quite common in the hip-hop US-TV watching metro cities as well. Heres my take on the issue.

India is known to be a very traditional country. Traditional in the sense that the family structure is such that parents continue to be a major part of their children's lives who might well be in their late 20s. The concept of kids moving out of the house for college and then living away hasn't quite caught on. Especially for girls. In the many Subway-dinner discussions with my gal pals, I've found out that even lots of parents still support their kids financially even though the kids might be earning money of their own - the pocket-money system if you may. Some of these gal-pals of mine, even have to report their where-abouts almost on a hourly basis back home. Now I am not the one to fill ideas in the mind of others, hence, I don't really oppose any of this but I find it quite absurd. I've always felt being financially dependent on your parents still makes one a child. And, oh boy, don't parents love their children. Its like back in IIT days we used to say "Once a fresher, always a fresher!"

Coming back to the main topic, I was just trying to say that some parents have a hard time letting go of their "children". Some feel that their kids are still not grown up enough to make decisions of their own; that they have to be picked up from falling down. Better, they should be prevented from falling down in the first place. Hence, the righteous road is defined - the road which is safe. It might not be exciting or provide as much happiness as the other roads, but atleast it doesn't have any potholes; or so one thinks.

Hence the backward Generation W thinks that their daughters' boyfriends are wrong - no matter how right they might be. As long as the man, who your daughter gets to spend the rest of her life with, is not picked by you from a ocean of "eligible" bachelors, he is just not good enough. No matter if he is known to your daughter since the past 5-6 years. And, the one who is right can be recognised in a 5 minute speed-date-in-front-of-your-entire-family session. For some absurd reason, arranged marriages are still the in-thing in India. Parents getting to gloat in front of their friends that they picked the boy themselves is a pretty big thing, didn't you know.

Haha, all BULLSHIT! Come on Generation W, let go of your kids already. Should not one's destiny be laid out by his/her own self? Be one's own responsibility?

Generation W would ask "Oh, but what if my beti's (daughter's) decision is wrong?" What they don't realise is, how do they know for a fact that their decision would be right? I believe the best way to do something right, is to do it wrong once. I'm not thying to convey that one should choose the wrong guy initially! I'm just saying that if the guy is wrong, it would make a whole lot sense that the one who does suffer is the one who chose him and not her parents.

Also, the whole thing about differences in communities in India being a factor for choosing the groom - another bullshit! The problem here is, the people who think these things look at the small picture. Hello?! Globalization was here ages ago! People outside India wouldn't discriminate a Gujrati from a Rajput, why should we Indians? When will we look beyond these petty differences? When will we stop finding invisible faults in others? When will we stop being Generation W and finally grow up ourselves?

Mindless Movie Marathon I

2008-05-22T11:38:00.000-07:00

So what do you in the (not so) middle of the week when you've been working a wee bit too much? You "reload the matrix" by watching 3 mindless movies back to back. :-)

Movie 1 - Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle (mindless score : 9/10)
I only curse myself for not seeing this movie sooner as it is an absolute gem. I had caught the actor who plays Kumar last week in the Namesake and all of a sudden, this flick seemed a lot more interesting. Thank the heavens for that, since I don't think I've laughed out this loudly throughout any movie for a long time (to be precise - a month, while watching the final scenes of Little Miss Sunshine.)

The plot is simple enough - two dudes (one of Indian origin and one of Korean) make a trip to their (supposedly) nearest White Castle burger joint. Sounds dull? The movie is anything but that. The cameo by Doogie Howser MD just adds on to the madness.

Movie 2 - One Night At Roxbury (midless score : 8/10)
Believe it or not, this is one of my favourite movies (the others being Memento, Oldboy, Fight Club and the like). A story about 2 idiotic (gay?) brothers who just want to go clubbing. It has great 80s music. It has loud, flashy suits. It has weird head-bobbing. Enough said!

Is it really the best movie in the world you ask?
SLAP!!
I hope that's taught you not to ask such obvious questions.
(The answer is a resounding YES!)

Movie 3 - Batman (1966) (mindless score : 10/10)
People are often wrong when they talk about there being 5 Batman movies (prior to The Dark Knight). There are actually 6; and the one I mention here is the one which came out the earliest. Based on the TV show of the 60s starring Adam West as the I'm-wearing-the-underwear-too-high-and-have-my-eyebrows-drawn-on-yet-I-care-not - about-my-beer-belly Batman, this 1966 movie is an absolute must-see for those who, hmm...hmmm...basically it is a sin not to have watched it.

The best scene, which I remembered for years to come before I got to watch this again, was perhaps the one in which Batman runs around with a larger-than-a-bowling-bowl sized bomb, trying to dispose of it while avoiding the following - 2 fat women hogging in a bar, 2 nuns, a woman with her baby, a marching band, a couple making out on a boat and before I forget - ducklings. Yes, thats correct - duckings! Now you see why I've given it a perfect mindless score?!

How to not have cancer and lie about it to get married and move to the US while kicking your boyfriend in the b@lls at the same time

2008-05-01T23:29:00.000-07:00

A Short True Story

Part I

In my previous company I was friends with 2 people called Deepesh and Simran (names changed as to not reveal identities) who had been going around for almost 8 years (since their college time). Simran was affected by cancer in college time and had undergone a lot of chemo therapy at that time. At the time I left GlobalLogic (my previous company) to join my curent company -in September last year- Simran was getting unwell again - cancerous bone marrow infection. She started taking lots of days off sick leave from work for her treatment at a reputed cancer institute in Delhi. Rest of the time, when she wasn't having her treatments - she and Deepesh used to hang out together going shopping and even meeting up with friends. Finally, I had gotten to know from Deepesh that Simran was going to Bombay for some special treatment which could not happen in Delhi. This was a month ago.

Since communicating with Simran was a problem (supposedly her phone was switched off the entire month), on inquiring about her health from her parents, one fine day, we found out that she had gotten married to someone else! Through the magic of social networking sites on the internet it was confirmed that she had gotten married a couple of weeks ago and tracing the IP contained in the header of her last sent mails, we found out that she was mailing from New Jersey, USA. Mind you, not a single mail contained anything about her getting married and all she mentioned time and time again to Deepesh was the fact that she was really unwell and was unconscious for 15-20 hours, making it difficult to contact anyone outside the hospital. She even mentioned that she would be back next weekend to watch a movie together.

What was really sad was the fact that Deepesh's mom had passed away, when he was a baby, from cancer and the girl knew that and was just playing with his emotions the entire time while hiding the other man in her life. She had supposedly gotten engaged to now-husband way back in August last year itself, yet continued fooling Deepesh, who not only used to pick and drop her from home (a 50 km diversion from his usual route to office) but had spent almost 300-400k rupees on her during that time including giving her loads of cash on her request for her *treatment* and spending hundreds of thousands for processing her H1B visa to the USA. Also, he had moved out his house after having a spat with his dad about them not accepting Simran. (a typical scenario at many Indian families)

Obviously when I found out how badly he had been duped, I picked up a few of our friends along the way and rushed to Noida. He seemed mentally scarred, plus he had no real support from his family about this. We consoled him nearly for 12 hours that day. The way the girl cold-heartedly conned the innocent fellow is something I'm sure none of us have ever experienced before. We are still debating over whether the guy should just let the girl lead a ever-happy life with her obviously ignorant husband, without any interference from any of us.

Edit: Removed some specific details.

Things people say

2008-05-01T02:02:00.000-07:00

I've always wanted to put up a dedicates quotes section somewhere on my blog since there have been innumerable times when people have made the weirdest comments infront me, ranging from my college professors to my awesome boss. Here is a step in that direction. Till a section is created, enjoy this bit :

"When you lose virginity, you tend to take broad steps while walking."
- GSS

"Eggs came into prominence after the jihaadi movements in the 1930s. Sorry i got confused with eggs and AK47s."
- Samrat Verma

"We are Women. We operate on a whole other plane of existence when it comes to plotting and dramas."
- Vartika Chaubey

Interesting observation

2008-03-20T02:01:00.000-07:00

Last to last weekend I had gone to Rishikesh for white-water rafting. It was a two day trip and the rafting lasted for almost 10 hours. There was also trekking carrying heavy luggage. When I got back I noticed that I had put on 1/2 a kg weight.

Last weekend, I went to Bombay (aamchi Mumbai to be correct). Ate, drank and lazed around. Only exerted myself to wave my hand to stop autorickshaws. When I got back I noticed that I had lost 1/2 a kg weight.

God works in mysterious ways!

Life doesn't get better than this!

2008-03-12T08:28:00.000-07:00

Michael Clayton

2008-02-18T10:06:00.001-08:00

"Michael. Dear Michael. Of course it's you, who else could they send, who else could be trusted? I... I know it's a long way and you're ready to go to work... all I'm saying is just wait, just... just wait and please just hear me out because this is not an episode, relapse, fuck-up, it's... I'm begging you Michael. I'm begging you. Try to make believe this is not just madness because this is not just madness. Two weeks ago I came out of the building ok, I'm running across 6th avenue there's a car waiting, I've got exactly 38 minutes to get to the airport and I'm dictating. There's this panicked associate sprinting along beside me, scribbling in a notepad, and suddenly she starts screaming, and I realize we're standing in the middle of the street, the light's changed, there's this wall of traffic, serious traffic speeding towards us, and I... I freeze, I can't move, and I'm suddenly consumed with the overwhelming sensation that I'm covered in some sort of film. It's in my hair, my face... it's like a glaze... a coating, and... at first I thought, oh my god, I know what this is, this is some sort of amniotic - embryonic - fluid. I'm drenched in afterbirth, I've breached the chrysalis, I've been reborn. But then the traffic, the stampede, the cars, the trucks, the horns, the screaming and I'm thinking no-no-no, reset, this is not rebirth, this is some kind of giddy illusion of renewal that happens in the final moment before death. And then I realize no-no-no, this is completely wrong because I look back at the building and I had the most stunning moment of clarity. I... I... I realized Michael, that I had emerged not from the doors of Kenner, Bach, and Odeen, not through the portals of our vast and powerful law firm, but from the asshole of an organism who's sole function is to excrete the... the... the poison, the ammo, the defoliant necessary for other, larger, more powerful organisms to destroy the miracle of humanity. And that I had been coated in this patina of shit for the best part of my life. The stench of it and the sting of it would in all likelihood take the rest of my life to undue. And you know what I did? I took a deep cleansing breath and I put that notion aside. I tabled it. I said to myself as clear as this may be, as potent a feeling as this is, as true a thing as I believe I witnessed today, it must wait. It must stand the test of time, and Michael, the time is now."

- Arthur Edens (played by Tom Wilkinson) in Michael Clayton (2007)

If this soon-to-be legendary quote does not clinch the best supporting actor for Tom Wilkinson, I will lose all faith in the Oscars. The man absolutely shines among the other superb performances (mainly George Clooney).

The plot of the movie came about as nothing new to me, partly because I had been watching the first season of the TV show - Damages, almost non-stop for the days preceding viewing the movie. The world of corporate-hired-thugs, relentless top-management and selfish law firms is common to both. Hence, instead of giving a biased opinion, I choose to remain mum. However, I can still sing lauds about the acting; maybe after my second viewing.

Juno

2008-02-13T13:03:00.000-08:00

My tryst with Oscar 2008 nominated movies continues. Today I watched Juno. It is absolutely delightful. The style of direction and the bright colours reminded me of Garden State.

The story deals with teenage pregnancy and how the cute little protagonist (played by Ellen Page, Kitty Pryde from X-men 3) goes about being an expectant mother at the age of 16. The range of emotions she portrays is amazing - from a wise cracking know-it-all to a confused and lonely kid. She definitely deserved the best lead actress nomination. I haven't seen the other performances but I will surely be rooting for her.

The other characters are also full of life, esp. her back-talking step mother and the most amazingly-supportive dad in the world. Theres never a dull moment with all the vivid, lovable characters around. Just goes to show that you don't really need an evil antagonist to make a memorable movie. Not quite a comedy and never too serious, Juno is quite a watch. Hats off to Ellen Page.

Into the Wild

2008-02-09T12:23:00.000-08:00

Just finished watching this movie called 'Into the Wild'. I stumbled upon it by chance because Eddie Vedder (the lead singer of Pearl Jam (my joint favourite band)) wrote and sung all songs in its soundtrack. The soundtrack, itself, is refreshingly acoustic might I add. Reading a bit about the movie, it reminded me of the greatest movies of all time IMHO - The Motorcycle Diaries - discovering the great outdoors; and another common feature - it is also based on true events.

Words fall short for 'Into the Wild' - what an experience! The visuals seem like straight out of the National Geographic channel. Who knew America was so beautiful! I'm sure India has a lot of natural beauty too and I feel more compelled than ever to discover it. Alas, if only wishes were horses and horses could fly. :(

The reason why I loved the movie was also because I can almost relate to the protagonist's mindset - to run away from this "ordinary" life. I think we are all meant to do greater things than sitting on a chair inside some glass building from 9-5 staring at an LCD screen. There is so much in life to do. Fortunately (or unfortunately), I have a long time to go right now. Lets hope I also have the ambition and courage.

The good-story whore

2008-02-04T13:09:00.000-08:00

I am that what the title says, a good-story whore. I don't know how many of us are but I do know one thing - I sure am! :)

Lets see how this came about - here are some of my current interests - watching movies, watching TV shows, reading novels and comics, playing video games, licking wikipedia end-to-end, etcetera. It all comes down to one thing for me - a good story.

To tell you the truth, most of the times I don't even like playing video games (its just mindless button mashing after all); I only do so to see how the story progresses. Sometimes when I am extremely captivated by a game's story, I just stop playing, read the whole thing on the internet and throw the game away.

There - thats my secret - I am good-story whore. Tell me a good story and I will be all over you like flies on a half-eaten-banana.

I want my college life back..sob sob

2008-02-04T12:51:00.001-08:00

First real post in a long time I guess. Well heres a quick recap. When I started this blog I was a college student, living in hostel surrounded by people of same age, same thinking. Now that I come to think of it - what an awesome life it was indeed.

I mean who wouldn't love college - your *working* day ends around 5, you get to walk back to your home (how I miss that in this stupid urban Delhi), no tension of food, no worries about money (good ol' mom and dad FTW), blah blah. I could just go on and on.

Now here comes working life - work is *mostly* boring (I do enjoy it at a lot of times but I can't imagine doing another 40 years of the same shit), more responsibilities, have to scavenge for food (again, most of the time my mom takes cares of that, but she is away a whole lot), managing money is a pain in the you-know-what (who the hell cared about investing in mutual funds, who huh?), traveling to work makes you a half-zombie; I can go on and on and on and...you get the drift?!

Also the stupid Delhi freezing weather has made me physically impotent (my activity potency period is a matter of parliamentary debate but with all of those hung sessions and people throwing microphones at each other, I'd rather let that be for now on). Mostly I am confined to playing video games on my PS3 at nights after coming back from home or late night dinners with friends.

So whats wrong with the picture? Not much actually. I earn more than enough for my needs, have loads of friends to hang out with, have lots of free time (which I have got to stop wasting), have a girl-friend (hmm!!), again blah blah. I also have ambition (hmmmm!!) but theres something missing which I cant quite point a finger at.

Anyway, back to the original topic - I want my college life back. It was peaceful, it was fun. I can understand why someone would leave his job and head back to do a PhD (holler if you read this Ghaza). I just might too!! :)

The piece of crap that is Sony India customer care

2008-01-08T01:08:00.000-08:00

Hello,

I am Nitin Sagar, a 23 year old software engineer living in Delhi.

Last month just prior to Diwali, I purchased a 60GB PS3 (with warranty). I wanted to get an Xbox 360 but I didn't want to get into the hassles of having to keep sending my gaming console for frequent repairs. Unfortunately that made me buy a PS3 and boy was that a bad decision.

A month later my PS3 stopped reading any discs. This suddenly happened when I was happily playing Resistance : Fall of Man. It just hung and then wouldn't acknowledge any disc put in it. This happened on 23rd December 2007 (right during the holiday season!)

I took it to the Lajpat Nagar service centre and thats when things got even worse.

First, they refused to take my set in because I did not bring the accessories. I had called up the customer care number atleast thrice before bringing in the unit and they did not mention anything about getting all the accessories along. After a minor heated argument, all throughout which I was saying I would get the accessories when I come to pick my system or they can just replace the console, they finally took in my PS3. On my way out I was told that the 60GB is not in stock and would take 10 days for replacement since it would need to come from Singapore. (Log Information number : 300422391)

Then, on the 27th of December 2007 I got a call from the Lajpat Nagar service centre saying my PS3 was fixed. I drove 20 kms to reach there, only to find out that it was in the same state as before. Not a single game being tested by the workers there worked. I was called for no reason. I deposited the accessories I had brought along and left dejected. I wanted to fill a feedback form for the same but I was refused to be given one.

On 30th December 2007, I got a call from Sony India asking me from where I had purchased the unit to which I replied with all the information I knew. I was told I would be getting a call back in 1/2 an hour. I never got a call.

On 2nd January I called up the customer care number and I was told I would get a call back from the engineering staff to update me of my PS3 status. I never got a call.

On 3rd January, I called up again and spoke to Azhar who told me the same thing. I didn't get a call that day either.

On 4th January I spoke with Richa who again, told me the same thing, also adding that my system was repaired and it would be delivered to the Lajpat Nagar service centre by afternoon. I was supposed to get a call by noon which I didn't.

On 4th January, I called up the service centre again and spoke to Shefali who said that my unit would need to be replaced and it would take some 10-13 days. This was the 13th day since I had submitted my unit. I logged a complaint regarding the horrible handling of customers by Sony India (complaint number 2638651)

It seems no one has any clue what is happening with the PS3 and what to do with it.

This is the worst treatment I have ever faced as a consumer. I will make sure I never buy a Sony product ever again in my life. I will also make sure that word of the excellent Sony India customer care department gets around on sites such as www.gamingindians.com, www.theangrypixel.com and www.gameguru.in. I think the people at the Xbox forums should also know that they are getting the better end of the deal. It seems the Microsoft India staff knows how to handle their customers. Sony should take a cue from that.

I'm sure this is all a worthless effort and I will not even be getting a reply of this mail, let alone my PS3 back in the near future.

An extremely disheartened Sony India customer,

Nitin Sagar

p.s.: This is a copy of my letter to Sony India customer care detailing my 13 day experience with them.

p.p.s.: If anyone has any contact details of Atindriya Bose, the Country Manager of Sony Computer Entertainment (India), please do let me know.

p.p.s.2: Here are all the links of my complaint on the internet. I will keep adding to this list till my problem is solved :

The Hopper In GrasshopperBoy

2007-09-11T12:03:00.000-07:00

I changed jobs recently. Its ironic I had to work MUCH MUCH harder AFTER giving in my resignation letter than ever before. But 4 hours of sleep a night and a week later I was a free bird.

Job life is quite different from college life - unless you are in the company I was in. Then its not THAT different; just that you get paid for slacking off at the end of the month. And to think I gave up bliss.

Anyway, I hope to write a lot about my work escapades soon enough. This little post was just to tell my faithful readers out there that I'm back. Hopefully for good this time around. :)

...

2007-07-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

Dad and The Kids of Today

2006-06-19T12:35:00.001-07:00

Contrary to what the title might imply this post is actually 2 seperate entries woven together as one.

The Kids of Today

To begin with, I visited my relatives (after a long long time) living in Delhi on Saturday. The family of my mom's younger sister and younger brother both have 2 kids each, the elder girls being in the 9th grade and boys being 8 years of age, each gender-pair being just a few months apart.
Anyway, why I'm mentioning about my cousins is because they completely astonished me. One incident took place when one of the 8-year olds (the one on the extreme right in the pic) brought out his dad's laptop and connected to the internet to surf the various games-sites. I was like "Whoa dude, you sure you're 8?" Kids these days I tell you. Look closely at the pic and you would realize that this kid barely looks like he learnt to walk some time ago, and there he was telling me how the use the laptop's mouse.

The second incident took place when the girls asked me to guess which class they were presently in. I answered "5th or 6th" keeping thier kiddy antics in mind. When they told me that they were studying in 9th, the Big Ben hit me again; "TUNNGGGG!!!!" 9th??? 9th??? I started going out with my girlfriend in 9th (and I've been with her for a good 7 1/2 years now :) ) There was no way I could even imagine there girls having boyfriends!!

So as is pretty evident, I am confused about the kids of today. Are they more mature or totally immature for their age compared to my generation. Whatever the answer, I am dumbfounded.

Dad

As with every 3rd Sunday of June, this Sunday was Father's Day. (Note to reader : Still time to send a belated wish to dear ol' dad. Arn't you glad you guys read this space?!! :P) Since my dad mostly lived away from us due to his transferrable job, I hardly spent any time of quality time with my old man. When he was finally transferred to Delhi 7 years ago after a long long time, it felt weird getting to actually gel with him for what felt like the first time.
My dad always made it a point to be one of the kids around the house which made my mom grow loads of grey hair 'coz all of a sudden she had to take care of an extra kid. We had tons of fun when my dad was around (he is currently in Agra :( )

Here is a funny incident which makes me remember my old man (he'd kill me if he found out that I call him this :P ) which I present as a tribute to him on Father's Day.

Me (after locking my dad in the toilet and switching off the lights when he had gone to take a leak) : "Ha ha!!"

Dad (giving a helpless cry) : "Waaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!"

Mom (coming from the kitchen) : "Oh no, not again!! The last time you did that, I had to clean the toilet walls!!"

Me (ROTFLOL-ing) : "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

P.S.: My mom also rocks!! :)

An Experience

2006-06-16T03:29:00.000-07:00

I finished a book today. Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood. I had earlier read his collection of short stories 'The Elephant Vanishes' just out of namesake curiosity. Then I started reading Norwegian Wood at a book store and just couldn't put it down.

The story is about a young Japanese boy tracing his college days. The entire novel revolves around him - his lonely life, his don't-give-a-damn attitude towards life, his confusion about love, the two women in his life, and everything else. Its the way his simple life is conveyed in such artistic prose which bring a life of its own into this book. Never has ordinary life been so beautifully written. And all this praise coming from me - a Stephen King fan - is really something I suppose. Truly an experience! :)

I Found Serenity Only To Lose It Again

2006-06-12T12:29:00.000-07:00

Its been a long time since I last blogged. A lot of reasons can be blamed for that. I used to blog during the good ol' IIT days since I had a lot of free time (believe it or not :P) and a very active mind. The active mind is still there but the free time is almost lost.

These days I get up at 3 in the afternoon. Barely have some home-made delicious mummy-cooked lunch when a rooster in some part of the world starts cock-a-doodling indicating that his majesty GhB has now awaken. A flurry of calls follow; from some friend or the other who are all getting bored in the Delhi summer. Then in a flash I'm off. Mindless 7 hours later, I return home; have dinner and spend some time with my mom while she watches her favourite soap-operas (a little mind numbing). Then I stay awake till about 4 in the morning doing something or the other and then finally force myself to sleep fearing my mom's reaction if she notice me still not in-a-frame-of-mind to sleep while she is experiencing morning.

Anyway, I have no idea why I wrote the crap above. The real post follows.

Last couple of days I was at Agra. Surprised?? I was too. One fine afternoon I get up and my mom's like - "We have to go to Agra!" You would notice that, that was not a question. Hence my only reaction was "Ok!". 5 hours-spent-in-a-stupid-bus-with-no-leg-space later I was at Agra where my dad was fulfilling my whims and fancies. Yes, thats right - a new car. That too a Honda City. A photo of the same is shown below. Don't be afraid to drool. I wasn't!! :)
An amazing incident happened when I got there. I could never have imagined who I would run into, in front of my dad's office. Yes, you old-blog-readers-who-think-you-figured-it-out-yourselves-but-had-help-from-the-blog-title, it was my old car - Serenity. Me and Sera had a wonderful 3 year history but our relationship ended when she had to depart all of a sudden. Running into her like this felt like old-lovers bumping into each other after a long time. It was like when they both stop and notice each other but go on with their lives after a brief moment without uttering a word. While leaving the office, I did go upto her and spoke at length sbout the times spent together. And for a moment I could swear I saw the front grill a little wider as if smiling.

Anyway, early morning my dad calls me to his office and makes me sign some 60 papers. Only when I fully woke up some 3 hours later did I realize that I had just taken my first car loan. Thats how the bankers do it. They come to your house in the wee hours of the morning and make you sign all sorts of papers they know you would never read. No wonder - my dad's a banker himself.

So off we went to the showroom where I had already chosen a dark-greyish colour. Turns out the same colour was selected by some bride-to-be for her groom-to-be as a gift for their wedding (a more subtle way of saying dowry). And their marriage was on the same evening. So after a lot of consideration and sympathy showers we chose a more sporty white one. (We later discovered that the grey car was finally not taken by the other party since they could not take something that was rejected by someone else! Sheesh!!!)

So happily we came back to Delhi with the designated driver almost hurling my car into every other vehicle he could spot in a 50-metre radius (And believe me, the only reason the car survived was because the driver could not spot too well!! Thank God for that!!!)

Now a question that would naturally arise in your mind would be - "What was the whole point of this post?" "No point at all. I just felt like writing." By the way, thanks for reading. :)

P.S.: For some time now, I will be morphing into my new alter-ego "Honda City Man" whose only currently known super-power is saving the world by driving his Honda-City-Man-mobile...safely!

The Argument And The Ego

2006-05-31T12:51:00.000-07:00

What is an argument really? I feel that it is nothing more than a difference of opinion. When 2 (or more) people cannot come to a consensus, thats an argument right there.

Arguments can be pretty dangerous. Arguments can wreck lives. Arguments can devour entire nations. All because arguments have the ability to turn love into hate.

Arguments can be sorted out if one of the two members involved is ready to change his mind; ready to change his opinion. But aaha!! That is where the ego comes in. The ego (or is it the superego I'm not too sure) makes sure that the argument lives on, grows into its full destructive nature, causes as much damage as possible. But what is interesting is - that instead of one member conceding defeat, it is now both parties who lose.

The Mind is a wonderful creation indeed!!!

Right Where We Belong?

2006-05-30T04:27:00.000-07:00

I listen to a lot of music; make that A LOT of music. Most of the time I hardly pay attention to the lyrics but some songs catch you off-guard. The one-man band Nine Inch Nails best known for their industrial rock came out with this song called "Right Where It Belongs"; some of the lyrics of which I am quoting below. Make a lot of sense, don't they?

See the animal in his cage that you built,
Are you sure what side you're on?
....
What if everything around you,
Isn't quite as it seems?
What if all the world you think you know,
Is an elaborate dream?
And if you look at your reflection,
Is it all you want it to be?
What if you could look right through the cracks,
Would you find yourself...find yourself afraid to see?
....
What if all the world's inside of your head?
Just creations of your own
Your devils and your gods all the living and the dead
And you're really all alone
You can live in this illusion,
You can choose to believe.
You keep looking but you can't find the woods,
While you're hiding in the trees

The Thin Line

2006-05-29T11:28:00.000-07:00

How is it that you can spend an eternity loving someone and forget it all one fine moment and feel complete aversion towards that person? Is the heart to blame? Is it that love comes from the heart and hatred comes from the brain; and is brain the stronger of the two; is it correct in being so?

Why is it that the ones that love us the most (and vice-versa) hurt us the most?

Really how thin is the line between love and hate?

Its All Coming Back To Me Now

2006-05-24T10:42:00.000-07:00

Warning : Veggie readers might find this post a but offending. Apologies for the same.

My dad is a hardcore non-veggie. Probably the reason why I am a hardcore non-veggie. When I was leaving Delhi to start off my new life as a student in Bombay 4 years ago (which now seems like an eternity), I decided that I would try and give up the non-veg. I didn't drink, I didn't smoke (both of which I still don't; which is quite a miracle in itself); the only 'sin' I thought I committed was eating non-veg. But that is something which I could not give up, thanks to my dad.

Probably the best place for a non-veggie these days is KFC. I think they understand what chicken lovers love - chicken! (duuuh, obviously :P ) Today, a couple of my friends and I decided to quench our thirst of meat. So, we started out on our quest for KFC. Instead, we ended up at this shack called 'Rajinder Da Dhaba' (Mind you, Delhi is 'the' city of dhabas). The food was amazing; not to mention dirt cheap. What would have costed around 800 bucks at KFC was ours for 200.

Anyway, the point of this post is not to gloat over my love for chicken. Rajinder Da Dhaba seemed kind of familiar to me. Which is when I realised that my dad used to take the little old me and the rest of the family out there for dinner all the time; a good 10 years ago maybe. Back when my dad was here in Delhi; back when I was here in Delhi. Then things changed - my dad was transferred all over India and I went to Bombay, leaving behind my home. The nostalgia today tasted better than the food. Maybe Delhi is not such a bad place after all. :)

Where Do I Begin....

2006-05-20T13:12:00.000-07:00

Well it seems I'm back. Although I've said this a lot of times in the past, this time I mean it (maybe).

A lot of changes have happened in my life. I am no more a student. I am no more a part of IIT. I am now one of those thousands of IIT graduates thrown around India and the world. If its one thing I gotta admit, it would be this - IIT is an experience in itself. A couple of years ago I had heard this from one of my then-passing-out senior - Whatever happened, happened but thank God I came to IIT." I now believe it myself. Most people consider IITians to be nothing more than nerdy geeks who sit in front of their books entire day. Coming from a guy who's been there, IIT life is ANYTHING but that. IIT is about growing up, meeting intellectual people and never caring about the little things in life.

Anyway, ode aside, here's where I stand now. I am currently in New Delhi, the capital of India; and I am here for good. It feels great coming back home after a gap of 4 years. (And what glorious 4 years they were!) Also great is the fact that I have friends here who still remember me after that hiatus. The fact that 2 of them came over at midnight with a cake on my birthday (which was a few days ago - Happy Birthday to me!!) is testimony to that. That doesn't mean that I don't miss my not-so-old buddies; I miss them like crazy.

Also, my love for the great city that is Delhi has now worn down. Bombay does that to people I guess. But nevertheless I'm in the process of making it my home again. But damn it; if I don't find any water bodies around here soon I'm going to go postal. :)

P.S.: A warm hello to everybody, esp. Mizfit who I ran into a couple of days ago and who is an absolute darling. :)

The Chronicles of the Traffic Offender - Part II

2006-05-04T12:16:00.000-07:00

"We come out of the airport, after all the discussion about senti, some with pity, some talking about PT, etc. Shaggy notices his car, which was present, for sure, as he was the one to get it there, seems to be nowhere. He exclaims, "Dude, where's my car?"

But fortunately, this wasn't the first time his car had got towed, so he unhappily starts walking down the familiar path towards the chowki. As company, me and Dixi. Dixi looks far into the infinite. He recollects painfully, "I was once in a police station." You can be sure his reminiscences get him emotional. But he is stronger now. And you can say that when you see his hard eyes on the mention of the name of the police. I ask, "Have you seen, 'Dude, where's my car?'." Shaggy was not quite in the mood to comment, but Dixi came out of the trance suddenly, saw some guy disturbing him and shouted, "Have you seen, 'Dude, Sudeep Kamath fell down the flyover!' " I replied in the negative and Dixi added that I must rather not see that.

Back to the car, Shaggy finds himself fined Rs. 100 for parking wrongly and Rs. 200 as towing charges. Shaggy complains to us, "Maine kab kahaan inko tow karaane ko?" and insists that Dixi show the finger to the officials while we leave. This however, was not to be the case. Shaggy therefore, stuck to his desire of having Dixi show the finger to every other person visible on the trip back. Dixi tried to "konsole" Shaggy by arguing that Rs. 300 is worth any hot babe and definitely Shilpa Shetty. The point however, that must be noticed, is that Dixi did not recognise Shilpa Shetty at all in the airport. On my word, finally, they both seemed to find it credible that Shamita was with her too. "So, two hot babes! What is Rs. 300?" blurts Dixi.

So, the car moves on and it is christened, "The car of might" by Shaggy finally getting the sad money transaction out of his mind. "THE CAR OF MIGHT" he shouts.

"This is the car of might". To prove this point, Shaggy performed all kinds of acceleration and jerking. Finally, when back in insti, Shaggy used to drive very fast and suddenly slow down on encountering a speed-breaker, slowing down and actually stopping right on it. This seemed to annoy Dixi to a pleasant extent. And he started looking like Dixi."

P.S.: Not written by me but since I enjoyed it, I though might as well post it. Everything written above is true! And Shilpa Shetty (who we had the pleasure of catching a glimpe of at the airport) is HOOOTTTTTT!!!!

Invitation

2006-04-19T15:53:00.000-07:00

To all my blog buddies,

How about a get together on Sunday, the 23rd of April 2006?

Since I'll be leaving Aamchi Mumbai in a few days (19 to be exact) and coming back God only knows when, it'll be a nice opportunity for me to get to know the faces behind those screen names and vice-versa (and for you guys to know each other a little better perhaps).

So, I heartily invite all of you for an evening of fun, frolic and socializing.

Date : 23rd April 2006 (Sunday)
Time : 4:00 pm (1600 hours)
Venue : Mocha, Juhu (updated)

This invitation might seem a little Mumbaiyya-centric, but is equally valid for Hyderabadis, Delhi-ites, Singaporeans, Americans, etc. The rule is - if you read my blog, I would be more than happy to have you here. So book your flight tickets (with your own money; I don't have any since I'm a student :P) and come to Mumbai for a cup of coffee with yours truly.

Do comment and let me know if you are free and interested. If the former condition does not hold, then we can work out another date/time; for the uninterested - its still cool. :)

Regards,

GrasshopperBoy

GrasshopperBoy Summarized

2006-04-16T20:24:00.000-07:00

Once there lived a kid in DC land. The world around him was in utter chaos and lives of all innocent grasshoppers were in great peril. Inspired by the heroics of Batman and his ilk, our meek protagonist decided to don the avatar of GrasshopperBoy!!! (muhahahahaaaa)

For reasons unknown, Shaggy (thats me) takes infy contempt at being referred to by his first name – Nitin. The fact that his best friend (from school and then IIT) shares the first name may be totally coincidental. Anyway, GHB took upon the onus of changing his name and smartly selected the nickname “Shaggy”, which served him two purposes – (1) establish his dud(e)-ness, and (2) make people forget his official name.

Shaggy was so full of DC (delhi-ite) traits that in his first year most wingies took a good 2 weeks time to realize that he isn’t a DASA (NRI student). Not only did he used to do his branded laundry once a week, but also meticulously ironed each and every piece of clothing (including the inner wear). It didn’t take him long to become an instant hit with the public; be it because of his hilarious name, his trademark “oyeeeeeeeee” howler (which was hard to ignore), the funny shuffle gait or a Phoebe inspired running style.

Another of his DC traits involves his deep attachment for his personal belongings, car, shirts, comics, “dolls” (the supposed action figures), girl friend(s) and the list goes on. But what will go down in history is his childish obsession for a bottle of Brut. pc almost paid for stealing Shaggy’s beloved deo with his balls. But what followed was simply legendary. Subjected to a little silly senti by his wingies over the issue (of rendering pc nutless), Shaggy proved his innocence by shedding tears (literally) for hours altogether till his mom consoled him.

Shaggy’s claim of having a girlfriend since his childhood was always doubted his wingmates for various reasons. To remove any such suspicions he even put her pic in his room. Shaggy makes use of every opportunity to flee to DC land to meet his sweetheart and off-late has been smuggling her into Bombay too. Once after returning from a Delhi trip he asked everyone to refer to his girl friend as “Mrs. Sagar” and chose not to answer when asked about the base he had landed at.

Though there remain little doubts about love of his life, Shaggy has been rather sly with his domestic liaisons. Rumor has that Shaggy gifted a dolphin to express feelings to his first crush in IIT. Undeterred by the failure he went on to hitting deep on his fellow batchmate in Bangalore, and going two steps deeper with Bombay chicks. However all these affairs were mere flashes in the pan as his love for Mrs. Sagar prevailed everytime…even after a brief musical opera last December.

Shaggy’s second love is no human. His beloved Zen was transported to Bombay when he begged his parents for a bike. This marked his upgradation from a lunatic superhero who’s always shouting for no apparent reason to an extremely well-mannered chauffer. Such is Shaggy’s pride in his love that he refused paying a bribe of 50 bucks and insisted on offering at least 200 bucks! To be called Nitin is nowhere as demeaning for him as being labeled a clumsy chauffer. So popular was his car that it was christened as the “official carrier of Techfest 2k5”.

This ever comic character goes into hibernation as soon as exams are nearing. Disappointed with the last sem’s result, Shaggy avows to mug (study) double hard as an outcome of which he locks himself inside his room a safe three weeks before the exams. His nbd (nervousness) and muggoo (nerdy) levels dangerously peak and it’s advisable to avoid any form of non-academic interaction with him. Needless to say, his cpi (relative grading followed in IIT) remains unaltered and the only satisfaction for him is a better grade sheet than Punty’s.

From finding out that RG (-meaning still unknown-) is actually an acronym for something a mere two days before his profile was written, to doing “gaddari” (treason) with his sophie (sophomore) year wing Les Unos, Shaggy has been a constant source of amusement for everyone who has ever come in contact with him. We sympathize with the 6 companies that showed him the door for they did not know what a perfectionist our hero is. But like the happy ending of all good stories, GHB landed up with a job which will reunite him with our beloved Mrs. Sagar and we sincerely hope that Dixi’s dream of “doing” it in Shaggy’s Safari will come part true very soon.

P.S.: This "profile" of mine was not written by me, but instead by my friends, and it was read out during my Valfi when I was made to sit on a chair in the middle of a stage, surrounded by friends and foes (:-P) alike. This is a unofficail custom followed at IIT every year for the passing-out students. Needless to say, its quite an enjoyable (and humiliating at times) experience. Thank God, it only happens once in a lifetime. :)

P.P.S.: The text has been slightly edited by me and I've tried to explain all the weird IIT common words in brackets in italics. And do remember that not everything written in the profile is true, obviously. :P

The Winds of Change

2006-04-15T14:48:00.000-07:00

Hello people. I am back...for the time being atleast!

Where have I been all this time? Well, I was getting nostalgic - nostalgic about the present. The just-concluded Valfi time at IIT is about realizing how amazing the people, you've spent your last 4 years with, are. Its also about realizing that its time to move on.

I've moved a lot ever since I was a little child. I studied in Delhi for the first few years of my life; till the 3rd standard. I made a lot of friends; some of whom I still remember but I doubt if they'll still remember me. The parting was the hardest part. I had been with some of the guys since the Nursery class, a total of 5 years. Obviously, staying in touch when you are 8 years old can be extremely difficult.

The next couple of years I spent at Dubai 'coz my dad was transferred there. Didn't really get much time to get close to people. All I recall about that phase of my life is a couple of mates from school and a teacher. I still remember her telling us students a story about how one of her student met her after a gap of 10 years and still remembered her. I hope I get a chance to run into her; she was the first person to make me really open my eyes.

When we got back from Dubai, my mom decided that my dad's transfers (due to his government job) was affecting our (my brother's and my own) education so she decided to stick around with us in Delhi even though my dad moved from one place to another, after every 3 years. I owe a lot to my mom for sticking out for us then. I can quite imagine how living away from dad must've been for her. (Thanks mom for everything!)

The years that followed in Delhi were simply amazing. I spent about 8 years in the same school and by the end of it, knew almost all the teachers and half of the batch. I made some really nice friends. Some best-friends came and went; some remained. Surprisingly, in the end, the people who I remained in touch with were my XI and XII class buddies. Staying in touch is a lot more easier when you're not eight anymore.

Then came IIT. How quickly four years have almost passed by, is still a mystery to me; but the inevitable must occur. The winds of change are blowing again; this time, stronger than ever. Even though I wish they didn't. :(

A note from the author :

This blog was originally meant to be a personal diary of sorts. It was never my intention to make it public. But then things happened which were out of my control; infact, thanks to medusa, who was probably my first ever blog reader (apart from myself, ofcourse), this blog now stands where it does. (A special hug to medusa)

I like writing funny stuff, 'coz I like to think that somewhere out there, it brings a smile to someone's face. To those people who were expecting me to end my hiatus with a knock-knock joke perhaps, I'm sure this post came as a surprise. (This post's title was also supposed to serve as a warning for the stuff that followed). Infact, if you see the very first entry of my blog, you would be shocked even more.

So, whats the point of writing this note? I request you to allow me some space to pour my heart out. Some of the posts that follow may not be entertaining, but they would come straight from the heart. Realizing that one's life is about to change forever, can shake a man to the core. And as of now, I am being shaken vigorously (and stirred). All those who would have passed out of college at some point of their lives would remember what it feels like.

Feel free to comment one and all. And sorry if I am unable to live upto your expectations for some time to come.

- GrasshopperBoy

P.S.: Get ready for a couple of pleasant surprises as well!

The Original Indian Superhero

2006-04-05T19:21:00.000-07:00

P.S.: This is not a post!

Indian Classical Music Appreciation

2006-03-28T20:29:00.000-08:00

If you have started reading this post owing to the title, please stop at this very moment because the title is completely misleading.

This post comes right after an 8:30 lecture of this course I am taking (Indian Classical Music Appreciation). Today was the 2nd time in over a month that I decided to attend the lecture. (Bad decision!!) Even though there are over 50 people registered for this course, when I walked into class at about 8:40, there was only one other person there - some married aunty. No sign of the professor! So with a dash of joy, I prompty enquired from the aunty if today's class was cancelled. The "No! The prof is coming!" came just as swiftly.

The level of happiness resulting from arriving for an 8:30 lecture and finding out that it has been cancelled varies from person to person. Some might feel extremely frustrated on finding out that their waking-up-early-morning went futile. I, on the other hand, have no such ill-feelings. Infact many have witnessed my hopping-about-mad celebration dance which follows.

Anyway, the professor hurriedly entered the lecture room at about 8:45 - unfortunately. And then started the usual routine of listening to raagas which would sometimes last 45 minutes at a stretch. Now, I had earlier mentioned how much I enjoy this class - usually. But listening to some guy singing complete and utter nonsense early in the morning when I could be blissfully asleep is another matter altogether.

In my opinion, if one of these raaga-singers were to suddenly start singing in the middle of the road, people would start pelting him with stones and tomatoes and chickens and whatever they would be able to lay their hands on. It occured to me today, that the raaga-singer actually sounds like someone being brutally assaulted. And that changed the course of the lecture completely. I could not help smiling while listening to the raaga imagining the singer trying to defend himself while people beat him up mercilessly, singing -

"Mat maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaro" (Don't beat me up!)
"Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa" (No!)
"Kyuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnn maaaaaaaaaaaaaaar raaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhe hhhhho" (Why are you hitting me?)

I will try to post an audio clip for those unaware of the Indian classical music forms. It'll be a laugh riot I promise.

Chronicles of the Traffic Offender - Part I

2006-03-27T11:50:00.000-08:00

I ~~like~~ love my Maruti Zen. Although its a '94 model (which makes it an antique of sorts) and sometimes gives a mileage of 3 kmpl, I still love that car. Infact I love it so much that I've even named it - Serenity (Sera for short) and I often talk to it. If that therapy can work on plants why not on cars?!

Anyway, that car has been in some pretty awkward scenarios, all thanks to the Bombay traffic police. Infact I can clearly remember the first time I was pulled up by a cop. It was a couple of years ago on returning from Bandra at about 2 at night. There was a left turn for the highway which I missed and I decided to take the next left which was only a couple of metres away. Ofcourse it was only when I had taken it that I realised that there was a no-left-turn sign nearby and what was worse was that I was now facing 2 cops who were peacefully sitting on some garden chairs in the middle of the road (I am not kidding here!) waiting for idiots like me.

Since this was my first encouter with the men in white, I was shit scared, obviously. I had seen my friends on bikes being pulled up for traffic violations and witnessed how they used to get away by paying 50 bucks under the table. But those were bikes and this was a car; meaning I would have to shell out big bucks to escape the dreaded challan. To top off my misery, I had exactly 10 bucks in my wallet!!!

The first thing the thullas (cops) did was take away my driving license. The next thing they did was try to intimidate me by telling me how heinous a crime I had commited by making that illegal-left-turn (which would have been perfectly legal had there been no cops sitting in the middle of the road!!!). Needless to say, they were doing a pretty good job; at this point of time I was picturising my car being dragged away and me having to spend the night under some nearby flyover. Next came the ransom amount - 1000 bucks!!! At this point of time I added tattered, patched up clothes to my under-the-flyover picture of suffering.

Fotunately there were some 4 other people in the car at that point of time. Unfortunately, the total amount of money added up to 45 rupees, 50 paise!! But then something magical happened - one of those 4 passengers happened to be a Bombay-ite who taught me one of the tricks of the trade - The Dirty Handshake, which I will explain here for the benefit of the readers of my blog.

The Dirty Handshake

Ingredients : Your right fist (or left - if you are left-handed), around 50 bucks in notes and a dirty thulla (cop)

Method :
Step 1 : Crumple the money and hold it tightly in your right (or left) hand.
Step 2 : Approach the cop face-to-face but stop at half-an-arm's distance.
Step 3 : Raise your hand so as to offer the cop a handshake.
Step 4 : When the cop responds (and he definitely will), slide the money in his palm, while passing an innocent smile.

And miracles of all miracles; it worked!! As I drove back, I could not but help (almost) kissing that Bombay-ite for he had taught me the one trick to rule them all (the thullas). Needless to say, The Dirty Handshake has yet to fail me after innumerous successful attempts.

So the next time, any of you are caught up in such a situation, remember The Dirty Handshake and drop off a thanks at the comments section of this post.

Beware!

2006-03-25T18:48:00.000-08:00

The winds of change are blowing ever so strongly!!!
P.S.: Yes yes, I know that this is a picture of a praying mantis and not of a grasshopper.

The future of India is....

2006-03-24T06:24:00.000-08:00

...confused!

P.S.: For the uninitiated - I'm the one in the brown kurta.

Happiness

2006-03-23T13:13:00.000-08:00

I was one of the core team members of IIT Bombay's Techfest a year back. I still cherish those moments spent with simply amazing people. Even as we might be passing out soon and going our separate ways, the once-forged bond will surely remain.

One thing Techfest taught me was 'reason'. Everyone has a reason for doing what they do - their own personal reason. And that reason precedes one's goals. The fulfillment of one's goals leads to self-satisfaction which in turns results in one's happiness. See how everything fits together perfectly!

Today as we, Team Techfest 2005, gathered for perhaps one of the last meetings together, I realised how our goals have changed over the years. As we embark on our professional careers, we each set our own happiness. Some might consider being the first one to own an BMW to be their happiness. My happiness lies back home - making a difference to my country and owning a Tata Safari.

P.S.: Please do pardon me if this post does not make much sense. Most of the things which come straight from my heart seldom do.

The Creativity of the Japanese!!

2006-03-22T13:53:00.000-08:00

The Japanese people sure have a queer sense of humour and creativity. From Akira Kurosawa to Mangas to Animes; they've been different and defined a class of their own.

As a tribute to Japanese art, here is a clip which has kept me amused the past couple of days. Its from a serial called Kure Kure Takora (Gimme Gimme Octopus) which was a Japanese children's show in the 1960's.

A little clarification before you watch it - the creature next to the octopus is a peanut!!

P.S.: On an unrelated note, I've been trying to design a new template for my blog, even though I like the current one. Its just that I get bored very easily.

P.P.S.: A warm hug to all my blog readers (esp. to all the new ones) and a special welcome to L>T on her return.

Barbaric Birthday Celebrations @ IIT

2006-03-20T13:03:00.000-08:00

The Warm Up!!

The Dip!!

Celebrations!!

The 'Lucky' Boy Survives!!

Bombay - The City Of Love

2006-03-19T11:52:00.000-08:00

Lat week, when I had asked a wingie for places in Bombay to roam about, he listed out quite a few of them but warned me against going to Bandra sea-faces. "Its a public make-out place" he said and I almost laughed for I couldn't quite imagine such a place.

In my second year, I, along with some 30 other hostel-mates, had gone for a batch treat. We happened to visit Bandra Reclamation to get a whiff of the sea. It so happened that this was at 2 in the morning and, obviously, the place was deserted. (It was another matter altogether that we encountered some policemen there who were only too happy to see us get shooed away without causing any commotion.) Remembering the peace and serenity of the place, I went against my wingie's advice and ended up at the Reclamation. And what a cultural shock it was!!

The time was around 8:00 p.m. The sun had set; the moon was almost up - perfect time for the lovers to come out of hiding. And they all seemed to converge at the Reclamation. Driving by, one would not have to peer closely to notice some 100 odd couples of various age-groups cooing by the shore. When I tried to park my car, the people on which the headlights shone seemed offended; as if I was invading their marked territory. But as soon as the headlights were off, romance filled the air again.

Now I am not against love, nor do I mind couples making out in public (a lot of people would disagree with me on this point, I'm sure) but I had never expected something like this. In Delhi, I do not know a single place where something like this happens. I used to read in the papers about the couples-menace at the monuments but I'm sure even they prefer some kind of privacy; even behind bushes for that matter. Nobody would have had the courage of coochie-cooing in full view of the public. Bandra was a different story altogether.

In my quest for a walk along the sea-face, I must have passed some 450 people - around 200 couples comprising 400 people; 25 were in form of groups of suburban-males whose sole purpose was that of entertainment and 25 consisted of - surprise surpise - families with little children. Kids these days sure must be learning at an alarmingly fast rate!

The above photograph (not by me) does not do justice to this post. But imagine replacing all the people with lovers facing the sea and lost in their own worlds and you would have a pretty good idea of what I'm trying to say.

Come to think of it, it must be fun to take an half-an-hour break from office with one's loved one for a visit to Bandra Reclamation; perfect way to relax and take one's mind off the daily hassles of life. Seems very romantic - the sea in front, the breeze ruffling one's hair and the person you desire next to you. Very romantic indeed!! The cultural shock aside, it was nice to notice so much love around. Bombay sure is the city of love.

GrasshopperBoy's Cupboard

2006-03-17T14:14:00.000-08:00

Its one of those days when I'm too lazy to write anything. So I leave you with a photograph of my cupboard.

Do try and name as many things from the pic as you can.

I pull off quite a disappearing act, don't I?

2006-03-16T12:29:00.000-08:00

Hello. I am back; not that I went anywhere in the first place.

Last week was spent with the most wonderful person I have ever come across in my entire life.

Most of my time was spent driving around Bombay, as a last ditch attempt to experience this wonderful city I would be leaving in a couple of months.

Hopefully, I'll be blogging regularly again; following up with some posts on the magical city that is Bombay.

P.S.: The above pic is aptly titled "happiness"!

But it rained.....

2006-03-09T00:53:00.000-08:00

What is the term for Sparrow Phobia?

2006-03-08T15:01:00.000-08:00

Being a fan of Stephen King, I just finished reading his 'The Dark Half'. I can't stand most horror movies but somehow enjoy reading the horror genre of novels - 'The stranger the better'!

Anyway, the story of 'The Dark Half' revolves around an author, Thad, who writes a couple of best-selling horror novels under a pseudo name - George Stark. Then all of a sudden, George Stark somehow comes to life and goes into a frenzy murdering people associated with this 'light' half (Thad, duh!) Then he goes after Thad himself and then Thad does....blah blah blah.

Without giving too much of the story away all I can say is that the gut-wrenching plot invlved sparrows; and now I find it difficult not to run away from sparrows when I see them.

Boys and cricket

2006-03-08T00:44:00.000-08:00

This is a snippet from a conversation which took place between my Delhi friends back when I was home. I still cannot help but smile when I remember it.

Swati : I bet I watch more cricket than you guys!

Rohan : HA HA HA HA HA HA HAHA HA HA HAHA HA HAH AHA!!!!!!

Swati : Well, I watch the entire match (ref. recently concluded India Pakistan matches) from 9 am onwards. Hows that?

Rohan : We guys watch so much cricket that we even know that when the Indian team's flight was delayed for 2 hours, they were chewing gum.

Swati : (No comments)

Me : HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA AH AHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

Movie Critic Sunday

2006-03-04T15:03:00.000-08:00

This week I watched some brilliant, brilliant movies. Infact, I'm on a roll; 4 amazing movies in a row.

WEDNESDAY - HERO

It all started out Wednesday evening when I decided I would try to watch as many Oscar nominated movies before the Oscar presentations. But somehow I didn't quite feel like watching "Memoirs of a Geisha", so instead got hold of a movie called "Hero". It is a Chinese movie starring Jet Li, and as with all Jet Li movies it had its fair share of martial arts. Please note that I'm not at all complaining.

The story revolved around ancient China when it was still divided into individual kingdoms. The will of one king to unite all the kingdoms under the rule of one, is opposed by 3 assassins who are out for his blood. Enters a nameless hero who claims to have beaten the assassins. As the story progresses, various different angles of the hero's claim are explored, each more complex and gripping than the previous ones.

If the entire movie could be described in a single word, it would be - BEAUTIFUL.
The movie is beautifully directed! Each shot can be framed and put up on a wall. A colour code of sorts, is used to signify various angles of the story which makes the movie a spectacular eye-candy. The story is pretty unique and the acting is marvellous; the assassins and the hero are well portrayed and each character is deeply explored. A beautiful movie with a beautiful message.

THURSDAY - CITY OF GOD

City of God is a Brazilian movie focussing on the gangs and violence that prevail in a Rio de Janeiro slum. It does so through the lives of 2 boys growing up amidst the bloodshed. The shrewd kid becomes a gang-boss while the one who tries to make an honest living, struggles to be a photographer; showing how easy it is to accept the ways of the gun and how difficult it is to avoid it, in a pretty-much lawless environment. Divided into continuous, connected smaller stories, the movie brilliantly portrays the might of the gun, the uncertain lives of drug-dealers and the power held by gangs.

Watching the movie felt like watching a well shot documentary. The acting was simply superb and the story was very well picturized, starting from scratch and eventually building up to the climax. It came as no surprise that this movie had a rating of 8.8 on IMDB. It definitely deserved it!!

FRIDAY - CAPOTE

This movie is contending for 5 Oscars this time around, including the Best Motion Picture. Capote is a biopic of Truman Capote, best selling author of Breakfast at Tiffany's, and his dwelling into the murders of a Kansas family during which he forms an emotional bond with one of the killers.

The movie is grim and eerie showcasing the manipulative mind of Capote as he tries to gather details for this next book, aptly titled In Cold Blood. His relationship with the murder suspect is the major focus of the movie and the director flawlessly captures the agony experienced by Capote due to the eccentric author's personal attachment with the killer. The movie's storytelling and Philip Seymour Hoffman, who portrays Capote in the movie, surely leave a long lasting impact.

SATURDAY - GARDEN STATE

I was going to watch Akira Kurusawa's Rashomon, but at the last moment ditched the plan to watch a recent, mostly-unheard-of movie called 'Garden State' instead. And what a treat it turned out to be!

The story was pretty simple and dull-sounding - the protagonist, a man in this 20s, returns to his hometown, on account of his mother's unexpected death, after a period of 9 years. During his time spent there, he begins to rediscover his long-lost associates and find some new ones along the way; and learns to let go of the ghosts of his past.

After watching the movie, one thing was for sure - the movie was anything but dull. From the moment it started, there was hardly a boring moment in the movie and there was no scene which was stretched. Everything fitted in more-or-less; moving the story along nicely, one step at a time.

The protaganist is shown to be numb, quite literally, due to the medication prescribed to him since childhood. The movie is about his endeavour to break free and "feel". During his visit, he meets a free soul, played by Natalie Portman (in one of her most amazing performances till date). Having skeletons in her own closet, she assists him in his psychological quest.

This romantic comedy had its fair share of unique, eccentric moments; such as the guardian of a seemingly bottomless canyon unearthed at a mall-construction site, living in a house which resembled a boat. That was definitely a first. All in all, a wonderful, happiness-evoking, feel-good movie.

Signing off, here is a part of a song, comprising the soundtrack of the movie, which captures the essence of the movie perfectly -

so let go, jump in
oh well, whatcha waiting for
it's alright
'cause there's beauty in the breakdown

Super Morph Saturday

2006-03-03T13:51:00.000-08:00

Your coolest superhero just got cooler. Introducing GrasshopperBoy in his ultra-chic hitman avatar. Next time you got a problem, you know who you gonna call.

"Draw vermin!"

"Nobody plays with a rubber duckie in my town!!"

CSE'06@IITB Batch Treat

2006-03-02T14:22:00.000-08:00

This blog was originally intended to be a diary of sorts of my final year at IITB. These days I write about everything and anything but here is a slight deviation from my normal posts, in an attempt to going back to this blog's roots.

As most of you may be well aware of, I am currently enrolled in the Computer Science and Engineering (CSE) 2006 batch @ IIT Bombay, about to pass out in May. CSE wasn't the easiest dept. to be in, but we all survived somehow and are now eagerly waiting to start the next phases of our lives.

There was a batch treat on Wednesday night (1st march) which united the entire batch after a long time. What I love about treats is the fact that after a couple of drinks, people really start to come together and you see all sorts of bonding. (No comments on the last statement )

Anyway, here are some pics of the same. See some of the fun-loving CSE '06 batch in action.

The Rock God and I (and a Bihari intruder in the foreground)

The drunken monkeys and a curious superhero

One (not so big) happy family

All hail the queen!

"Hands off the cake, you fiend!!"

P.S.: Even after that warning, I managed to get my hands on huge chunks of the cake!

The Mystery Of The Disappearing Mangoes

2006-03-01T03:58:00.000-08:00

This is an interesting incident which happened around this time last year. I just thought I would put it up on my blog for you guys (and gals) to enjoy.

One fine sunny day I woke up from my afternoon nap to find something stuck up in the mango tree in front of my room.

Usually throw all sorts of garbage at the trees, so its no big deal. (Right now there is a broken chair, a computer cabinet and someguy's suitcase hanging from the tree.) But this was not garbage (debatable point ), this was my next door neighbour Pungi.

It turned out that Pungi was hungry and since all nearby food outlets were closed at that time of the day, he decided to relish himself on some raw mangoes (kairi).

Now it so happened that since man is a greedy creature, he ended up getting a few more mangoes than he could eat. Correction: make it A LOT more.

So after distributing loads and loads of mangoes to everyone we knew, we were still left with close to 2 dozen mangoes.

Now the obvious question was - What does one do with 2 dozen mangoes? The obvious answer, ofcourse, was - SELL!! So out we went in search of a nearby vegetable market in this mad mad world.

A mad mad world indeed!

We had imagined that people will come rushing to us in hoardes on seeing our merchandise. As it turned out, selling fresh mangoes was a lot more difficult than we had imagined in our weird minds.

After about 3 different vegetable vendors, we finally found one who was willing to buy out our mangoes.

The rate was not much (C'mon people start eating more raw mangoes!!!) but we ended up making about Rs. 60 ($ 1.5) Writing that in dollar equivalent has just made me realise the whole lack of fruitfullness of the entire episode.

And what better to do with money made by selling mangoes than by spending it on mango juice .
15 minutes and 4 glasses later, we were 2 very satisfied men.

P.S.: Its that time of the year again. Expect a 2nd part of this post real soon.

A Story of Happiness and Sadness

2006-02-26T11:54:00.000-08:00

Exam Time - Part IV

2006-02-26T04:58:00.000-08:00

I gave my last midsem for a long long time yesterday and what a relief it was. Since I have no immediate plans of continuing my higher studies, my tryst with examinations would come to an end after 2 more months when I would be having a last look at those sheets of printed paper which have managed to torture me slowly yet painfully for more than 18 years now.

Now, although I am a budding Computer Science Engineer, my present semester courses have been hand-picked to be the easiest, most non-technical courses available, one of them being Cognitive Psychology. Why this course is taught to us Computer people is beyond the scope of my comprehension, but thank God for that!!!

Now I have never been a 100% attendance student (except in school when there were incentives to do so ) but I particularly enjoy this course's lectures. One main reason of that being, that the course is being taught by this dude -

Mind you, this is not a morphed photograph. It is an actual pic put up by the prof on his website for all to see.

Moving on, I usually keep a low profile in most lectures and prefer to sleep on one of the back-benches but this time I couldn't but help being noticed by this dude. And this was because of the fact that I naively told one of my friends to proxy for me when I decided to bunk one of his lectures. Most of the time it is a petty and harmless crime, that is unless you get caught; which is exacly what happened to me, unfortunately. So there I was, sitting in front of this prof, when he called me to come and meet him. Things turned out quite nice actually when in the end, not only was I able to convince him that I had a credible reason to bunk that day's lecture, but I also expertly manipulated the situation to make it look like someone was out to do me harm by signing for me falsely. All this while, holding back my laughter.

Anyway, during the midsem exam, it so happened that I had not studied much for the course. (I am about to pass out, the last thing I care about right now is my grades!) So the question paper was a complete surprise to me. I tried to answer quicky and concisely (esp. since I did not know what to write) and was over with my paper in about half an hour. The allotted time for the paper was 2 hours. As much as I wanted to run out of the exam hall, being the first one to leave usually implies that either you knew it all and you cracked the paper or you knew nothing and the paper cracked you. Hence, I did what the other guys sitting in the hall were doing, I waited for someone to get up before me. So there we were, some 20 of us looking at each other, waiting for someone to make that first move. Needless to say, for the next 10 mins, nobody moved.

In the meantime, my restlessness was noticed by the prof who was wandering about amusing himself looking at students' answers. The fact that he remembered our previous rendezvous was established by that devilish smile on this face as he approached me. Then all of a sudden he went "So, how is the paper?" and the only thing that could come from my mouth was "Uhm...who me?". Then all of a sudden I looked at the question paper was if looking for the first time and then gave a much more sober "Its OK" reply. A few raised eyebrows later he moved on down the hall.

If that wasn't enough, at that very instance of time, some girl sitting in front of me asked for a supplement answer sheet. That was the last straw!!! I had barely managed to fill in 3 1/2 pages of crap and this chick had completed 14 full pages and wanted to write more. Without a care in the world and without thinking of the "who's gonna get up first" game, I stormed out of the examination hall.

I'm pretty sure my marks in that examination would give way for another amusing posting on this blog. Wait and watch. College life sure is fun.

P.S.: Arn't the dinosaurs destroying the site awesome?

Comic Book Appreciation Satuday

2006-02-24T11:40:00.000-08:00

As most of you would already be knowing by now, I am an avid comic book fan. I read just about anything which starts or ends with 'comic'! At home I have airbags full of American comics ranging from Superman to X-Men to what not. As a child I was hooked to comics for the colourful artwork; these days I'm hooked to the storylines and the wonderful characters which have gradually developed over the years. I also tried to read Indian superhero comics but was always repelled by their unimaginitive stories and single-dimensioned characters.

My favourite is Batman (for the uninitated - he's not exactly a super hero but he does get to run around in a bat costume with people not throwing their daily groceries at him. Thats something!!) but theres someone I love even more than this beloved comic hero - the psychopath killer with a pale face with a wide grin painted on - The Joker! (He is Batman's arch nemesis who is his complete opposite - he's a bad guy, he kills, he smiles!)

Anyway, what follows is a sequence of panels extracted from the comic book - "Batman : Killing Joke", written by the great Alan Moore, which pits the aforementioned rivals against each other (as usual). The extract shows the point of tension when Batman finally confronts The Joker after a gruelling chase. Try to enjoy!!

Long live comic books!

Exam Time - Part III

2006-02-23T13:18:00.000-08:00

Since I don't have much to write, I'll make one of those arbitary, yet enjoyable, postings. Check out this awesome Indian ad discovered at YouTube. Its freaking hilarious!!!

Indian creativity at its best!!!

P.S.: Thanks to Rustagi for pointing out such mindless crap!

P.P.S.: Notice the new sidebar and the animated Yahoo emoticons!!

Exam TIME - Part II

2006-02-22T06:48:00.000-08:00

P.S.: I am bored!

Exam Time - Part I

2006-02-21T11:28:00.000-08:00

My return landed me deep in the middle of my exams and being in final year, none of us final-yearites feel like studying, obviously. So we end up doing crazy shit. A preview follows. Read on! (If you don't have a clue as to what is happening, don't feel left out, neither did gaurav_419 :P )

BUZZ!!!
Shaggy: u thr?
Shaggy: urgent
gaurav_419: no
Shaggy: alfred
gaurav_419: ???
Shaggy: i need the batmobile
gaurav_419: what??
Shaggy: take it out of the batcave immediately
Shaggy: ASAP
gaurav_419: f*** u
Shaggy: home in on me
Shaggy: and get the batmobile
Shaggy: quickly
gaurav_419: go away
Shaggy: quickly i say
gaurav_419: get lost
gaurav_419: u suck man
Shaggy: no no alfred
gaurav_419: u r the sickest nbat 've ever seen
Shaggy: don't lose hope
gaurav_419: bat*
Shaggy: we will survive this together
gaurav_419: who the f*** is losing hope
Shaggy: don't give up on me now
gaurav_419: we
gaurav_419: i am not a gay
Shaggy: alfred
gaurav_419: u silly creature
Shaggy: calm urself
Shaggy: i need assistance
Shaggy: u remember how to drive don't u?
gaurav_419: ya i do
Shaggy: robin is dying
Shaggy: and joker is laughing
Shaggy: gotham city needs u alfred
gaurav_419: oh my gsh
gaurav_419: gosh
Shaggy: respond alfred respond
gaurav_419: sure i'll be there
Shaggy: thank u alfred
gaurav_419: it's ok dude
Shaggy: i knew i could count on u
gaurav_419: it's on the way
Shaggy: thank u alfred
Shaggy: u're a life saver

P.S.: BTW, this is my avatar on Yahoo! ----->

Chronicles of the Master Procastinator - Part II

2006-02-14T04:49:00.000-08:00

Bye bye folks. I'm off. Will get back on Saturday!

Happy Valentine's Day and all. :)

Chronicles of the Master Procastinator - Part I

2006-02-13T02:12:00.000-08:00

I have loads of work to do which I keep postponing to some mythical day in the not-so-near future. I also plan to get out of the city soon 'coz sometimes I get stifled. Dunno how I'm gonna explain my absence to my guide, but I'm a staunch believer of the (self devised) Could-Be Theory Of Procastination - "Things which need to be done, get done on their own!!" :)

Anyway, I've been tying new ways to keep myself busy (anything which doesn't involve academics :P ). As readers of my blog must be aware of already, I really loved the movie Rang De Basanti . There was this scene in the movie where 2 guys stand on a ledge and do bottoms-up till one of them finally loses balance and falls (safely) in a pool of water.

I tried doing the same today. Except the beer was replaced by a Mountain Dew and the ledge was hardly one feet off the ground. But hey, its the thought that counts right, not the minute details! :P Ofcourse things went far from perfect when all the soda went straight to my nose with some even trickling out of my left eye (I didn't even think that was possible!! :O ). I would rate this act very highly for amusing friends and making them think of you as a completely nonsensical idiot. Do give it a shot. :P

In the meantime, if any of you have any suggestions for killing time without actually doing anything productive, do comment. :)

The Magic of the Barber

2006-02-12T04:15:00.000-08:00

---------->

This drastic measure had to be taken when my mom gave me the option of either getting a civilized hair cut or living the rest of my life in the garage.

Not hard to guess which option I took up, eh?

Drumroll please

2006-02-11T18:59:00.000-08:00

Ta Da!

After about 6 hours of non-stop work, I've finally accomplished my good deed of the day. :)

Ladies and Gentlement, I present to you the new look of my blog. It uses a highly (self) modified WordPress' Kubrick template and a random header image generator, so that no one gets bored seeing the same image over and over again (the main reason why I grew sick of my old blog). Refresh my blog to be instantly entertained. :P

Thanks to Rustagi for giving me the inspiration to finally change the template.

The look is classy to say the least. I'll try to add some more oomph factor to it but right now more important things beckon me...food and sleep! :)

A Tribute to Pungi...

2006-02-10T01:16:00.000-08:00

...for letting me steal his speakers.

May he never take them back. >:)

If any of you happen to run into me, don't mind me shouting...I'm in the process of going deaf. :)

Rock On Man!!

2006-02-08T11:37:00.000-08:00

Presently, the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival is going on in Mumbai. Its an annual cultural festival which takes place around January/February and deals with music, dramatics, dance and cinema. Its one of the things which makes Mumbai the city it is. I'd never gone there in my 3 years of living in Mumbai but I was determined to attend it this year knowing that my association with this amazing city is going to end soon. :( So, today, my friends and I decided to go all the way down to south Mumbai to attend a rock concert. My actual blog entry starts now.

Heres a confession - I completely love rock music. People might say that rock music is nothing but noise. I strongly disagree. I've been hooked on rock for as long as I remember. Sure, as a little kid I used to watch some stupid pop music videos on TV and sing along and all. But what do little kids know anyway? :P This semester, I've taken up a course on Indian Classical Music Appreciation just to get back to my roots. Still waiting to see how that works out. I love the lectures though - you enter class to find music being played and the professor himself starts singing too - its almost like going to a pub. :)

Another thing I completely love is driving. The thrill of racing a mean machine on smooth terrain overwhelms me. Although, I prefer the roads of my hometown Delhi, Mumbai highways offer a pleasurable ride too, esp. at night. And Mumbai being the city that never sleeps, I've had enough oppurtunities to do a lot of night driving. Going to the rock concert meant driving all the way down to south Mumbai, about an hour drive. All throughout, we had loud rock music blaring from the car speakers - in anticipation.

We reached there to find a crowd of about 60 people, most of them being elderly men who I'm sure were just wandering about and decided to see what the fuss was all about - very unlike a rock concert crowd. But as time passed, the hardcore rockers came in, wearing the classic rock concert uniform - black tee with jeans.

Now the concert. Two Indian bands were to perform - a local band, Zero, and a quite popular Delhi-based band called Parikrama. The show started with Zero pelting out some pop numbers and some rockish items. Obviously the crowd was not pleased. The hardcore rockers started moshing - hurling themselves at each other and the crowd. The elder people looked all shocked. I'm sure moshpits didn't exist some 20 years in the past. Infact I learnt about moshing only recently so can't really blame them. For someone who is unaware of the concept of moshing, those rockers must've looked like drunk kids trying to pick a fight. :P And oh, there was this one dude who was trying to do all sorts of Indian classical dances when the music was being played. To some, he was far more interesting than the band.
Zero ended their performance and then out came Parikrama. And man oh man, things got rocking all of a sudden. Anyone who's heard a decent share of rock music would tell you how talented their lead singer is - not only can he imitate the high-pitch voice of the AC/DC singer but also flawlessly render amazing covers of Coldplay/Pink Floyd numbers. Simply awesome. Another unique thing about Parikrama is that their band includes a tabla player and a violinist. A violinist!!! Its like an entire orchestra!!! The band knew what the crowd wanted and made sure they delivered. Another amazing thing about them is that all their original songs are available on their website for free download. My advice to anyone reading this is to check out their song called "Open Skies". Its mostly a violin instrumental but awesome nevertheless.

Do notice the lack of synonyms in this post and the excessive use of the words "awesome" and "amazing". Mind-numbness is one of the after-effects of attending a rock concert I guess. Other after-effects include neck ache from the head-banging, sore feet from the jumping about, body ache from the moshing, a splitting headache from all the loud noise, complete loss of one's voice from all the singing along loudly and loss of atleast 5 kgs of body weight (which I consider a good thing, so its accepted). All in all an amazing concert...simply awesome!! :P

Pagliacci

2006-02-07T23:44:00.000-08:00

A man goes to the doctor. Says he's depressed. He says life seems harsh and cruel. Says he feels all alone in a threatening world where what lies ahead is vague and uncertain.

The doctor says "The treatment is simple. The great clown Pagliacci is in town tonight. Go and see him, that should pick you up."

The man bursts into tears. He says "But doctor... I am Pagliacci."

-An old "joke" quoted from the Graphic Novel "Watchmen"

Just a thought

2006-02-07T20:54:00.000-08:00

How difficult is losing something you never had? :(

Yahoo Messenger Status Wars

2006-02-06T07:53:00.000-08:00

The following is the sequence of status messages set on Yahoo Messenger by my friend and I; I being Batman ofcourse. Final year is making us crazier I guess.

Batman fixation!
Here comes Batman's nemesis Ballman!!
Batman is slapping Ballman silly!
Batman is emotionally weak!
Ballman has issues!
Batman stole Superman's underwear!
Ballman doesn't even wear underwear!!
Batman listens to Britney Spears.
Ballman enjoys Kenny G....in more ways than one!!
Batman has crotch ball dislocation!!
Ballman has a fungus problem!!
Batman isn't even a man!
'Ball'man is such an ironical name!!
Batman wets his bed because he has nightmares about ponies riding his car!!
Ballman was "probed" by aliens!
Balls to batman!
The question of the month...Where is "Ball"man going to rent a second b*** from?
Batman was nicknamed the filthy foetus!
"Ballman" was "Ballsman" once!
Batman is the superhero version of spam!
Ballman was born a girl!!
Batman's childhood dream was to become a bus conductor!
Ballman IS a bus conductor!!
Batman sucks at innovation!
Yes ladies and gentlemen...u heard it right..."Ballman sucks!!"
Batman sucks at imitating too!
Batman has a Batmobile....Ballman has a Ball-bicycle
Batman blinded himself to go on a blind date and that is why he wears a mask!
Ballman's sidekick....Cousin It (ref: Addam's Family)
Batman makes up stupid jokes and laughts aloud!
Ballman doesn't have a sense of humour! (And that is why this status mesg is not funny....he wudn't understand it then)
Batman burps while sleeping and thinks he is funny!
Ballman thinks a blind date is a "BLIND" date!!!
Batman has a split personality and thinks he is a house keeper!
Ballman's greatest enemies are little kids who can read!!
Batman thinks George Bush is cute!!
Its not Ballman fault that he was adopted!
Batman thinks collecting coffee cups is cool!
Ballman spends all his free afternoons trying to find his missing funny bone!!
Ballman thinks Batman owes him a coffee!
Batman says tmrw at shack :)

Shaggy: i go sleep now
Shaggy: bye

gulti: me too
gulti: cya

Three men and a shopping basket

2006-02-05T10:28:00.000-08:00

Pritam, Dasa and I decided to go shopping today. And when 3 men go shopping for groceries...well...God save the queen. :)

We went to a nearby super-market where we picked up all sorts of stupid stuff ranging from Hershey's Chocolate Syrup (I have a major time chocolate fixation see...and I just love it!) to ultra-cheap t-shirts. Unfortunately, what we didn't realize was that today was the first Sunday of the month and hence, the supermarket was overflowing with people buying whatever they could lay their hands on. So after an hour of picking up completely useless items, we reached the paying counters to find queues ending at the other end of the supermarket. This left us with only one sane option - to abandon our loot and walk away empty handed (and happy).

On coming back to hostel, we found out that one of our dear friends got a fellowship. A treat at Baskin Robbins followed naturally (IIT Bombay people try and get the pun :P ). And by God's grace the ice-cream shop was in close vicinity of the supermarket. So after loading ourselves with ice-cream, we visited the supermarket just as it was about to lower its shutters for the day (a good 3 hours after our first visit) to find our abandoned treasure basket still waiting for us at the exact spot where it was surrendered. 5 minutes later and 1500 bucks poorer we were happy pirates again. :)

P.S.: Meet the new love of my life. I call her 'sweety' :)

Whats in a title anyway?

2006-02-01T05:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday night, I went and watched "The Chronicles of Narnia" at a nearby theatre. Although I really wanted to go see the Hindi remake of Oldboy, titled Zinda, to compare the 2 versions, my friends just would not agree for it. So in the end we turned up for Narnia. Now seeing my previous posts, one would imagine me ranting about the movie and how much I liked it. None of it this time. This time are are more important details which cannot go unmentioned. :)

For all those familiar with the movie, you would realise that the title I mentioned above (yes, the one in bold) is incomplete. The complete title of the movie is "The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe". I heard this title while on the way to the hall and I could not stop laughing out hysterically for 15 minutes. I mean come on, what kind of a movie contains the word "Wardrobe" in its title? "The Lion" I can understand - you know, majestic creature, king of the animal kingdom, the perfect beast to symbolize a figure of authority, blah blah. And "The Witch" - gives the feeling of this evil female well versed with dark magic and capable of resurrecting the dead or some crap like that.

So, when I heard the title "The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch...", I said to myself "WOW! This movie must be amazing!!". I could almost imagine an adventure in a far away fantasy land involving raw power on one hand and evil magic on the other. Then I heard the rest of the title "...and The Wardrobe" and well, I went into these hysterical laughing fits. For me it was hard to imagine a wooden piece of furniture which contains clothes being involved in anything remotely resembling an adventure. Don't wardrobes just stand around in some corner of a room? Its what they're good at. Its the only thing they do!!

I for one, would never ever name any of my creative outcomes such ridiculous names. Imagine a movie called "The secret agent from the future, his wife and their wooden spatula" or "The mystical adventures of Bob the lamp-post"! I think I'm gonna stop writing for now. My stomach is hurting from all the incessant laughter. :)

Oldboy

2006-01-29T09:47:00.000-08:00

Now 2 movie tributes in 2 consecutive blog posts is not something I usually do but I just couldn't help myself this time. Yesterday night I watched this movie called 'Oldboy'. Its a Korean movie and its AWESOME!! After watching Casshern and a couple of other Korean flicks I'm becoming a die-hard fan of the industry.

In the hope that some Korean director will notice my blog and let me do a superhero role in his next movie, I present to you a semi-rendition of Oldboy - dedicated to all the Korean script writers. And don't worry I won't spoil the story for those who haven't seen the movie (I'm goodboy) :)

So it starts off like this see. One fine day, this guy wearing the fake angel wings (Now do you realize why I mentioned the script writer? :P) ...
...gets kidnapped while on this way home to his wife and his 4 year old (was it?) daughter. And instead of a ransom demand, the kidnappers just put him in a room, all by himself, without telling him why.

Obviously, in a few days he starts looking like this -
I mean come on. Who wouldn't?? :P (Henceforth, I shall refer to him as 'the dude')

But the dude makes the best use of the oppurtunity (poor thing can't do much else can he?) and trains himself in the hope of avenging himself when he finally (if ever) gets out of his hell-hole.

Well as luck would have it, before long he manages to get out.
Correction 1 : 'before long' should be replaced by 'after 15 years'.
Correction 2 : 'he manages to get out' should be replaced by 'his captors get fed up seeing him ruin his life by watching TV all day long; and throw him out'
(The dude thinks he looks cool with those girlie glasses but then again, I ain't complaining. I mean the dude was locked up for 15 years all alone you know. I'm sure in that time you develop your own fashion sense - porcupine hair, butterfly glasses and all!)

So off the dude goes to find the person who fed him horrible chicken dumplings for that long. He does, however, take some time off to go shopping for his weapon of mass destruction - the one that would cause fear in the hearts of this captors - the one that could beat the cool guns used in the Matrix trilogy movies hands down! Yes, dear readers, you guessed it...
A Carpenter's Hammer!!! (Standing ovation to the Korean scriptwriters)

Anyway, the dude seriously kicks some major a$$ and takes down this whole army of fat, bald, topless men who appear out of nowhere to mess his hairstyle. ("Dare you touch my hair you bastards!!! Now die!!!!")
(The above pic is christened 'Hammer Time' and dedicated to 'M.C. Hammer', whose songs I found totally rad when I was a little boy with no taste in music!)

Then he lives happily ever after without a single ounce of guilt in his body. THE END!!!

Anyway, jokes and trying-to-be-funny tributes apart, the movie rocks. It actually has a very unique story and brilliant direction. And believe me when I say this, the climax will blow you away. The mystery of '15 years' is awesome!! A must watch for anyone who enjoys a breath-takingly different, new age movie.

P.S. : There is also this fighting scene (refer to 'Hammer Time' above) which is about 2 and a 1/2 minutes in length and seems to be a single continuous shot (I wonder how many retakes it took to film that!) in which the dude beats up about 20 thugs single handedly with his trusty hammer. The scene is simply too cool!!

Rang De Basanti

2006-01-28T04:51:00.000-08:00

Even though I'm quite bankrupt this month due to unavoidable reasons, I could not turn down a chance to go see the newly released and much hyped movie 'Rang De Basanti' mainly because of 2 reasons - primary reason being that I really loved the promos of the movie and secondly, because I recently realised that I've been watching very few Bollywood movies off late and I've decided to try and appreciate the genre more. So off we went, a group of 20 hostel mates to watch the night show of the movie.

Now coming to the movie; the movie is about the Indian youth. Story revolves around a British documentary maker who happens to be a descendant of some British officer who served his time in then-not-independent-India-under-British-rule. She becomes intrigued with his journal which features accounts of brave Indian freedom fighters and decides to shoot a documentary on the same in India. Finding the right faces and voices for her documentary proves a little difficult until she runs across this happy-go-lucky band of college students.

The college students represent the urban-metropolitan-Indian youth - they drink, they race about on their bikes and 4x4s, they don't listen to their parents much and they rate models on Fashion TV. :) Most present urban-Indian students would easily relate to them which makes the movie connect instantaneously.

What I found particularly interesting was this character of Aslam, a Muslim in this group of urban hippies. Although the new-age Generation X sees no bias between religions, which is quite true in my opinion (atleast in the Indian metros), Aslam's orthodox parents mind his Hindu companions and try and instill this fear of communalism within him which he quite rigidly rejects. Bravo!!

Ok, coming back to the plot, the first half of the movie involves a lot of flashbacks relating to times of the freedom fighters but they are so well cinematized that they hardly seem boring. Definitely much better than any history text book I would say. At this point of time, the movie tries to show the lifestyles of the urban youth - chic clothing, rebellious attitude and the anything for friends outlook. Then in this perfect world of these college students, all of a sudden, things go wrong - tragedy strikes, as is typical in most almost-happy-perfect-storied movies. The twist makes the movie quite serious at times. In my personal opinion, the latter plot became a little too unbelievable at times but then again this is, after all, cinema. The whole concept of "It is not the people who should be afraid of their government but the govenment who should be afraid of its people" forms the base, with the icing being corruption within the Indian government, and bits and pieces of anarchism and fascism thrown on top. Storytelling at its best I thought; make the connection and then make the audience think!

Anyway, no more talk about the plot as I don't like giving away the stories of movies. I personally believe that the lesser one knows about a movie, the more one enjoys it. The picturization was brilliant, the music lively and the acting was fantastic. I implore the people reading this, especially the Indian youth, to go see the movie. Its quite nice. Long live this fresh whiff of Indian cinema I say. :)

P.S.: Someone please tell me why Saif Ali Khan was in the movie with a wig on?? :P

Boundaries

2006-01-24T10:33:00.000-08:00

IIT Bombay's Techfest 2006 ended a few days ago. As part of last year's organizing team, I was kinda running around a little here and there this time around too when I met a team for one of Techfest's event. The 3 member contingent team was from Pakistan. Very interesting people to talk to; full of stories about Pakistan and their present adventures in India. And since I kinda speak north-Indian (almost) Punjabi ascented Hindi, my tone resembled their Urdu ascents. I later had dinner with them. Interesting chaps indeed.

These guys had me thinking - what constitutes a country? I mean what distinguishes the people of one country from another - esp. 2 countries like India and Pakistan. Is it just the physical boundary that separates the two? Indians and Pakistanis - how different are we from each other? Do we not welcome them with open arms? Would they not do the same for us? And yet we keep fighting. Sad world we live in.

Damn!!

2006-01-23T03:33:00.000-08:00

And then all of a sudden things go so wrong! :(

Just for the heck of it

2006-01-18T22:12:00.000-08:00

The reason for the lack of posts on my blog is because lately i've become too lazy! And I love being lazy....oh boy do I love being lazy!

So what have I been doing lately? Hmm a lot of things.

A couple of days ago I went to the Mumbai domestic airport to get my tickets to Delhi booked. I couldn't do this online coz then my parents find out about it through the credit card slips and this time I wanted my trip to be a fraudie one. I'm a staunch believer in signs sent by God to mortals and my car being towed away from the airport was one such sign of more impending dangers to come. And the worst part was that my car wasn't even parked in a No Parking zone or anything. They just felt like towing it away. Well, one thing I've learnt from my previous experiences is never to argue with cops. So all I was saying was "Yes Sir!". And what made it worse is the traffic cop was having his fun - "So where are you from?", "What are you doing in Mumbai?", "Oh! IIT!". The last thing I wanted at that moment was a chatty cop, you know. There are nicer ways of being friendly - like waving off that 300 bucks fine. :(( Anyway, in the end, the cheap tickets I booked for the trip kinda compensated for the fine. I know thats a stupid statement but it cheers me up.

Then one fine day I went to this place called U.S. Pizza where they were having an unlimited pizza offer - for only about a hundred bucks. Too good to resist!!! (drooling) So off we went. About 3 hours later, surviving the dozens and dozens of pizzas thrown our way, I was down with a burnt inner-mouth and an upset stomach. But if I were to put the entire experience in just one word, it would most undoubtedly be - cheese!! :X

I've taken this course on Indian Classical Music, and man, it is brilliant. On entering class, one is subjected to music being played. Its almost like a pub! :) And I love it, even though it is all raags and other Indian classical forms of music. Lately there was so much Nusrat Fatel Ali Khan being played in class, that I fell in love with him. So these days thats all I've been listening to. This has, ofcourse, freaked out my neighbours because now, instead of loud blaring rock music (esp. Nirvana and Pearl Jam) which usually emanates from my room, they are subjected to songs like "Aafreen Aafreen" and "Allah Hoo"! But as I always say - "A change is eminent - the more drastic the better!" Ofcourse, this is just a temporary phase, so hope my neighbours. :)

Coming to a different topic altogther, last night I realised that I needed help. Have a look at the pic below. Here is the original link.
Now what freaked me out was that the guys who were with me when I came across this link were drooling over the hot model, but what caught my attention was the dinosaur toy!! Any psychiatrist reading this blog, please send me your contact information ASAP. :-S

The Connection Theory

2006-01-14T13:58:00.000-08:00

A little (almost) philosophy; hope nobody minds.

Heres the thing. How many of us have connected? And by connected I mean, you know, been with people who are on the same wavelength. Its like when you sit down next to that person, the thoughts coming out of your head just seem to entangle themselves perfectly with those of your connecting mate. And by connection I don't mean a one-sided conversation, the one where one does the talking and the other listens, but a mutual talk and an enjoyable listen. A talk where you don't have to think twice to shoot your mouth. A meeting of the minds which stops time.

A great example of the connection could be seen in the movie "Before Sunset" which focuses on a couple of friends who meet after a long gap and just connect. The entire 2 hour movie is about them just talking with each other. And its a brilliant movie. Makes one appreciate the sometimes-forgotten essential part of life - bliss.

Another movie echoing this magic is "Lost in Translation" which features an almost-forgotten movie star and an alienated wife drawn together and finding comfort in each other. Against the expected movie stereotype of man meets woman, the friendship is denied the chance to bloom into romance, and yet their fleeting time together makes a strong impression on both characters. Again, a brilliant movie!

This whole connection theory was eating my head so I ventured out and asked a couple of friends what is it that they would like - a soul mate they could connect with or a hot-and-sexy person of the opposite sex who you could lust after your entire life. Everyone goes for the connection. Obviously. Lust wouldn't be expected to last a lifetime; but when you have your connection, eternity takes a new meaning altogether.

So heres the thing - the original question - how many of us have connected? How many of us have found that person who we would love to be marooned on a deserted island for weeks to no end, with nothing to do but just catch up with each other (assuming that theres a big carton of food supplies somewhere there)? What if that person is of the opposite gender?

And if that connection hasn't been found yet, does one wait? If so for how long?

And perhaps, the most ironical part of the whole deal is - what if one does find that connection; of the opposite gender - but - for some reasons things don't work out - because they can't! Then what? Does one wait for a new connection to appear, knowing very well the minute chances of that ever happening? And does that connection become a threshold for judging future relationships/friendships? Should it?

The human mind works in mysterious ways. Sometimes, we try to find something which may not even exist - an epitome of perfection - and sometimes, when we do manage to find it - that too when we may not even be looking for it - we are unable to hold on to it - be it for reasons such as insecutrity, physical separation, ego, or that-all-time-favourite-enemy-of-man mortality. Perhaps the long sought-after purpose of life was intended to be as simple (or as complex) as - to be able to connect. Perhaps.

Back with a bang!!!

2006-01-13T01:14:00.000-08:00

I am finally back to the world of blogging. My disappearance can be attributed to a number of reasons - placement season during Decemeber end, Delhi visit January starting and my state of laziness which is ongoing.

'Winter of 2005' was unforgettable of sorts. The placement season took its toll on me. It was adventurous yes, but depressing as well. Here is a short summary of the same.

First day was Goldman Sachs. From about 500 people who applied for the job profile, about 120 were selected for the written exam out of which 6 made the final shortlist. I was one of them. An interview based on probability I was least prepared for, which obviously, got me thrown out. Come to think of it, I wouldn't have been able to fit in properly with a group of hardcore mathematicians anyway. Just not my style.

Next came Sales and Marketing at HLL. This I was very interested in, since I always imagined doing marketing for a FMCG company in India would be a worthy challenge in itself. Again, from the 400 people who applied, 70 were selected for the group discussions out of which only 4 survived for the final interview rounds. I was one of them. And my interview went perfect, so to say the least. Which made me all the more disappointed to see my name not being in the final list. This came as a blow.

Then came Microsoft Development and Amazon. I was one of the few people to make it to the final interview rounds again. This was becoming a habit of sorts by now. Both jobs had Hyderabad placement and a shitload of money to offer. Again, God had other plans for me. (Come to think of it, maybe falling asleep during the Microsoft presentation wasn't a very un-stupid thing to do after all :D)

A company called Inductis followed. Although I hated the work which is looking for patterns in thousands of entries in Microsoft Excel sheets, I was still looking forward to the Gurgaon placement, since that is half an hour drive from my home at Vasant Kunj in Delhi. Again, out at the final interview rounds.

Another failed attempt at a US based software company made me a legend of sorts. By now, either people were not getting shortlisted at all or easily getting jobs. I was one of the few who would easily clear the written exams but falter at the interview rounds. By this time I think I was leading the failed interview race, by a huge margin I might add. And things were only getting worse. The top-notch companies were coming to an end. So was my patience.

30th December was to be the lucky day. A company called Induslogic came and all of a sudden my luck changed. I easily cleared the two written exams and this time around didn't do a single thing wrong at the 3 interviews that followed. When the results were announced I was only too happy to jump about and shout "I'm no more berozgaar (unemployed)!!" This was almost like a dream job. The work would mostly by designing - not coding, the placement is in Noida, which is at max an hour's drive from my home and the pay is a shitload of money. Good things come at a price - that price for me was the time. That night the company people treated us to dinner at the Grand Hyatt and all of a sudden the good life had started. I got back at about 2 at night and the first thing I did was book my tickets for Delhi. Within 12 hours I was at my hometown kissing the ground in front of the airport.

And ladies and gentlemen, that was my placement season - not so short, not so pleasant, but it had a happy ending. :)

A Formal Shirt, 2 Formal Ties, 3 Tennis Balls, Cardboard Weapons and A Couple of Amazing Friends

2005-12-17T13:54:00.000-08:00

Today began slow and boring - getting up after noon, getting a haircut for placement season and finally shaving off that goatee, after an year I think. :(

Then it took off.

A couple of friends accompanied me to buy some formal clothes, of which there is a serious drought in my wardrobe. First stop was a Provogue showroom, where I realised that, what might look good on their brand ambassador, does not look good on everyone (read me). (To be honest, I don't think anyone can wear an orange-base-with-red-stripes formal shirt!) Then for some fun, we decided to spend some time hanging out at a mall. My purchases there consisted of a formal black tie and 3 tennis balls. I'm pretty sure that the attendant at the sales counter had never seen a weirder combination of items. :)

While driving, we ran across a peculiar sight on the road - "Gazal Bar and Restaurant". The obvious question was "Is it a Gazal Bar or Bar and Restaurant?" We felt that there was no harm in trying it out. But just as we were about to enter, I saw the scene inside - it was a Dance Bar. And I'd always thought that Dance Bars were banned in Mumbai for good. (Whose good is debatable) So as soon as the security guard opened the door, I literally ran away. And when I say ran, I mean ran. It must've been a unique sight for the guard but some instincts in life you just can't ignore.

The original plan was to see King Kong. But the movie being 3 hours long and the show starting at 10:20 pm didn't leave us all this thrilled. So off we went, to venture south Mumbai's best place to be - Marine Drive.

The drive till there was interesting. The female accompanying us was a non-stop radio station. In about 10 minutes, we had heard every advertisement jingle ever made for the Indian television - the perfect dose of entertainment and nostalgia.

For the uninitiated, the most awesome thing you can do at Marine Drive is to roll down your car windows and cruise at a speed of 60 kmph. No guesses for what we did there. Then, at the beach, we couldn't help but buy 2 cardboard swords and a bow-and-arrow set. Our immature actions can be blamed on the childhood ad jingles, I guess, or the fact that our combined mental age (we were 3 pretending-to-be-grown-up adults) was about 15. :) It was fun walking in south Mumbai at about 1 at night, pretending to have these LOTR battles, without a care in the world. Its like one of these things which people think of doing but never actually get around to, because it would be oh-so embarrassing. Sometimes these are the things which you end up enjoying the most.

...And to think that in a few days we'd all be getting jobs and starting our lives in the professional world.

For the ladies in the house....

2005-12-16T01:17:00.000-08:00

Meet my lovable next door neighbour Onkar.

Of Okut Testimonials

2005-12-12T11:56:00.000-08:00

I ran across an old friend after a long time today. The thing I loved about him was that although he was 4 years senior to me, he never treated me as a freshie in my first year. This made me develop oodles of respect for him. Although he's a little short in height, he more than makes up for that with his coolness; and his name is CMS.

As I found out, he recently went on a (sort of a) blind date with some bandi (slang for woman) who he had met over the net. The bandi not only turned out to be hot but also filthy rich. She was also a techie - which I consider a pretty unique feat as I don't know many bandis who are interested in tech. Infact, one of my most favourite persons on Earth completely loathes computers and prefers not even laying her hands on them. I, on the other hand, was born an internet baby. Not only do I surf like crazy, I'm also a member of almost all online social communities like Orkut, etc. (Believe me, if you're a member of such a community try searching for my name; you'd be amazed!)

Anyway coming back to the hot date; now comes the interesting part. When CMS showed up for the date, the bandi was shocked. The first thing she told him was "You're supposed to be 6'1 !" Obviously CMS was confused, but after a little introspection he concluded that I was to blame for the this misunderstanding. You see, I had once written him a testimonial on Orkut which went "...very nice person with a sense of humour which is hard to understand at times but u have to laught along anyway 'coz he's 6 1/2 feet tall and has a pretty hefty body!" Yikes!!

Obviously the date turned out to be more awkward than most first blind-dates, which is a real something!! Personally, I feel that a bandi, who does so much research before a first-date with a guy, by going through the testimonials others have written for him, is a bad choice anyway. I mean theres nothing left to explore on a first date if you already know the guy's entire history, habits and all. CMS, ofcourse, had an altogether different opinion. Actually, I'm sure I would too if my date was hot and interesting.

So, heres wishing CMS luck with his future encounters with the opposite gender. I've promised him that I would not be writing any more misleading testimonials. BTW, one interesting thing to note, is that he has still not deleted that testimonial which I had written for him. :P

The Grasshopper Vanishes - Story 1

2005-12-10T14:04:00.000-08:00

Inspired by Pritam's blog (and Harumi Murakami), I though I'd try my hands at short stories for a change. So here goes my first original piece -

Kurt loved Keira. He really did; you could see it in his eyes. And Keira was only too happy to reciprocate the feeling. When Kurt and Keira walked hand-in-hand through the streets of central Tokyo, it was as if a thousand love-birds sang - literally.

After seven years of courtship, Keira decided that Kurt was stifling her; she needed some more space to breathe. So she put their beautiful love to an end. Kurt was heart-broken. It was as if all of a sudden he felt incomplete - again. Keira moved to New York. The love-birds stopped singing.

7 months passed. Keira had almost forgotten Kurt and how it felt to be loved by someone. Somehow she didn't care. Then Kurt showed up. Keira's first thought was not how he had managed to find her but of that of a little baby swimming in a pool. Without saying a word, Kurt took her into his arms. Keira never resisted.

The next morning they woke up next to each other. Love-birds were chirping outside. Then without a word or any expression on his face, Kurt got up and jolted towards the main door. Keira called out to him but to no avail. She had just managed to put on her pair of jeans and made her way to the open door when she heard a screech from the road outside. She ran. Outside, a truck had hit Kurt head on. Witnesses said that he did not scream. Just as a single drop of tear was running down her face, she noticed the tattoo on the truck. It said "Nirvana"!

The Big Bash And The Art Of Motorcycle Riding

2005-12-09T14:01:00.000-08:00

I haven't been blogging regularly b'coz I've been busy. Yes, all my exams are over and my holidays are supposed to be going on, but I've somehow managed to keep myself busy; and I don't know whether that is a good thing or bad.

Anyway, had fun today. One of my friends was celebrating his b'day today and instead of the routine run-of-the-mill IIT b'day celebrations which involve a swollen ass, long lasting cries of absolute pain and a pepsi treat to all, this guy decided to celebrate with a bash at a hotel near Juhu beach. Ofcourse none of us were complaining; for obvious reasons. :)

I was unable to take my car out at night due to malfunctioning headlights so I sat behind on a bike for the ride. Normally I don't do that since I have no need; the last time such a thing happening being a couple of years back. Since I have this morbid fear of bikes instilled in me by my dad thanks to his own innumerous bike-accident stories, I am shit-scared while sitting on one; but every time I get through one ride safely, that fear get pushed back little by little.

Anyway, the guy riding the bike, my next door neighbour Pungi, was a safe driver. So instead of feeling all scared, I was actually enjoying the ride. I even managed to take pics of a couple of interesting sights which I encountered along the way.

The first was a sign shown below. It was just plain old weird and made no sense what-so-ever. If it does to any of you, please do comment.

The second was the sight of our fellow bikers - a sardar and an extremely tall man, aptly christened Bamboo, who somehow seemed to resemble a couple of pirates. I've tried to recreate the scene from my imagination, which is posted below. Needless to say, all thoughout the journey I was shouting "Ahoy land lover!" loudly every time we passed them which sometimes made the other people on the road take notice and stare. They probably thought I was drunk or something.
See the resemblance? :P

Then came the party. Now the thing is that recently I've been putting on a lot of weight due to massive consumption of cheesey products - the main culprit, ofcourse, being pizza, which I love so dearly that if it were a woman I would marry it. So these days, much to my dismay, I'm on a self-constraint diet of sorts, which turned out to be a really bad thing considering all the free food which was there. I ate minimal and barely touched the desserts. My friends were "considerate" enough to sit right besides me and make lots of "yumm" sounds every time they took a bite. I was even given lots of detailed descriptions about the almost-unresistable desserts. With friends like these who needs B-52 bombers? The interesting part came when the b'day boy's mom put loads and loads of kulfi (ice-cream) on my plate and I had to go around feeding huge scoops of it to everyone who was willing to eat it. (Actually, everyone is willing to eat ice-cream so I didn't have that much of a trouble getting rid of it)

Food was followed by crazy dancing fits (which I stayed out of, trying to maintain the little dignity that I possessed), a couple of games (including one which is regarded as one of the most fun activities these days - "Spank Shaggy" (Shaggy is my pet name) - fun for everyone except me that is) and a request for a catfight between a couple of females, which was, surprisingly, turned down. And to think that I was really really looking forward to that catfight. :(

Anyway it turned out to be a really fun night enjoyed by all. I wish more of such bashes follow - as soon I have lost that extra weight that is! :P

Oh, Such A Perfect Day!

2005-12-06T10:23:00.000-08:00

The day started early. Somehow yesterday night I could not sleep so I kept reading Stephen King till about 4 in the morning but surprisingly got up at about 9 am on my own. Since I had no idea what one does this early in the morning ('coz its been a while since I've woken up before noon), I decided to do what all red-blooded males dream of doing - I washed my car. :) After a pain-staking 1/2 an hour work, my car was looking spick-and-span, and I was looking proud.

At about 11, I had a pre-placement talk to attend which, surprisingly, I really wanted to, because it was the same company where I had done my summer internship and I had grown really fond of the guys who were coming over for the talk. I entered the hall 5 minutes before the starting time and I was greeting by a loud "Hi buddy, how come your phone was off?" from across the hall. That felt nice.

After the talk, I took the guys, who had come from Bangalore, around for some Mumbai lunch - mainly this Mumbai dish called 'Pav-Bhaaji'. Throughout the time, not for a single moment did I feel that I was sitting with my one-time employers - it felt as if we were friends. Those guys were only too anxious to ramble on about their student-lives. At the end of lunch I was gifted a $20 copy of the history of the company - and it was personally signed. Again - nice!

Another talk followed in the evening by some bald US dude who somehow looked funny getting out of the good-old yellow-and-black Indian taxi. He gave a damn good talk but every time he smiled he looked like the lead from the movie 'Natural Born Killers'. That was a little scary!

After the talk, I had to go buy some formal clothes for myself. I was joined by a couple of friends who had nothing better to do the rest of the day. So off we went to a nearby mall. Although my original intention was to buy a single formal shirt, I also ended up buying a Rs. 6000 formal suit. I learnt two things though - 1. Never enter a formal suit shop wearing a Nirvana tee and cargos; 2. I look DAMN GOOD in suits.

Dinner was at McDonalds; it had been a while since I'd been there. It was followed by chocolate mousse donuts for dessert and, boy, were we feeling bloated.

Came back to IIT where I was offered a chance to become a core member at a new start-up.

If only all days were like today. :)

P.S.: Thank you Pritam and Torka. You guys are the greatest!! :)

P.P.S.: I wish I had bought a lottery ticket today :(

P.P.S. 2 : Sorry Deepika for missing your b'day treat :(

Purpose

2005-12-02T12:31:00.000-08:00

Today my academic commitments for my semester ended. No more acads till January now. To celebrate, I watched a Japanese movie called Cassern. I had heard somewhere that it was similar to Sin City with the same kind of comic-feel to it. So I was only too excited to watch it.

The movie was about a breed of re-animated (almost human) beings called Neo-Sapiens who emerge as a result of a cloning experiment gone horribly wrong. Being considered freaks and hunted for no apparent cause, they declare war on humanity and construct a massive army of robots to do so. Then comes this super-hero called Cassern, a former soldier brought back to life, who gets his superpowers as a result of his reincarnation. Ofcourse, like any other superhero he tries his best to save the world.

Being a Japanese movie, it was filled with fantastic 'anime like' action which made the action scenes from the Matrix trilogy seem as if they were filmed in slow motion. And the movie was pure art. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Each frame of the movie was a piece of art - infact each frame could have come straight off a panel of a comic, as was the case with Sin City. But probably this is where Sin City ended and Cassern began.

As it turned out Cassern was much, much more than your average run-of-the-mill superhero movies. Most of those are aimed towards teenagers anyway. The ending is always the same - superhero defeats the supervillian in the end. Plus he gets the girl. Plus the world is saved. Blah Blah. Cassern was, fortunately, aimed at a more mature audience, making it probably one of the very few such movies to incorporate a strong complex storyline.

Towards the ending, the movie took a completely unexpected turn. The villians weren't really the villians anymore. The good guys weren't exactly good. The superhero wasn't really fighting a 'good' battle. It was superb. Pure storytelling - at its very best. The superb ending got me thinking on some accounts. Mainly 3 things - war, love and purpose.
The movie presented a gory picture of war - unlike usual one-sided war movies. I was left wondering about certain issues - Who are the good guys in a war? Who are the bad guys? Who gets to win a war? Who decides? If you're fighting a war for your country but don't really believe you are doing the right thing, where do you stand; are you a traitor?

On love - What is the extent to which you can love someone without hurting those around you? Can love really transcend all boundaries? What is love anyway?

And finally on purpose - What is our purpose here on Earth? I mean, there must be a purpose for which we were sent down here, right? Are we really serving it? And that all-time favourite unanswered question - What is the meaning of life?

Come to think of it, I was taken for an unexpected ride by Cassern. I wasn't quite expecting what was thrown at me by the movie. But whatever was thrown, hit me quite hard. I doubt any of these questions has a definite answer or even one which makes sense. Or perhaps these questions weren't meant to be answered at all.

Breaking the first rule of Fight Club

2005-11-30T11:35:00.000-08:00

I've seen Fight Club atleast 11 times already. Infact I was just about to watch it again when I realised that it just wouldn't be fair if I didn't give it some space on my blog. Those familiar with the movie would have already realised by now, that the present layout of my blog is highly influenced by it. So here it goes - an ode to Fight Club.

I had seen some really amazing movies before watching the Fight Club, but it definitely took the cake. The story, the characters, the ending; everything just blew me away. It was one of those attitute movies - "In your face" kinda.

If you haven't seen the movie, here is a short summary - The story revolves around a bored, insomiac narrator who meets this anti-Christ personality called Tyler Durden. Things go topsy-turvy from there. These guys like to fight each other for fun, which leads to the formation of "The Fight Club", a club where people come to relieve their frustration in life, by beating each other mercilessly to pulp. The club gains massive popularity and before long Tyler becomes a cult leader and starts this crazy shit called Project Mayhem. As the name would suggest, its all about causing mayhem. Towards the ending, the narrator regains his moral self and goes up against Tyler's personal army, finding out the dark secret that is Tyler Durden.

If you have already seen the movie, you would know by now that the no words can describe the movie. Its pure art. The story is actually based on a novel by some freaky dude called Chuck Palahniuk (or something like that) and this one is actually one of his cleaner works. I'd read up a story by him called "Guts" available on the internet somewhere (Warning : not for the weak of heart. Also the reason why I'm not putting up the link here), and I could not sleep properly for the next few days. (If you still do look it up, mind you, you have been warned!)

The dialogues of Fight Club are geniously crafted. They just keep getting better and better with each viewing. The role of Tyler is played by Brad Pitt, whose movies I completely love, be it Se7en, Ocean's Eleven, The Mexican, etc.; the role of the narrator is played by Edward Norton, an amazing actor himself. The psycho music playing in the background is also highly addictive. All these factors make the movie a masterpiece in the true sense of the word.

Another thing that I really liked, was the fact that the mass popularity of the movie did not spawn a sequel - something that happens every-so-often ruining the air surrounding the original title, because the sequels usually suck - major time.

So as I go watch it right now, I would encourage you to do so too. Get a DVD and experience this modern-age epic. You can come back and thank me later. :)

I hail thee, Tyler Durden.

Sleepy-head

2005-11-29T11:42:00.000-08:00

Just found out that my last exam, which I thought was at 9:30 in the morning, is actually at 2:30 in the afternoon. Yayyyyy! That gives me 5 hours of off-time.

Actually, this time around, more than the exam itself, I was more worried about getting up before 9:30. I haven't done that in ages now. I usually get up at 2 in the afti and am forced to order lunch from outside. So the moment I found out that the exam is in the afternoon, I called up my mom who wakes me up before every exam, which she's been doing ever since I missed one because I was fast asleep.

My mom has had more-than-a-fair-share of her experiences with my "sound" sleep. Once, my mom left me alone in the house to pick up my brother. I fell asleep watching TV and woke up about an hour later to find that my mom and my bro still weren't back, although they should have been long ago. So I go to the door and open it only to find my mom on the outside with a filing rod trying to cut open the metallic mesh, with my brother and 2 of my neighbours looking on. She sees me and gives a sigh of relief. I found out later that she had tried all sorts of things like calling up on the phone, shouting for me standing downstairs, etc. but when there was no response she got worried, resulting in the scene outside the door. I was only too happy that she wasn't shouting at me at the top of her voice (which she never does BTW, coz she's the best mom in the world.) The moment the door is open, I duck inside my house, too embarassed to face anyone. The neighbours start laughing which they continued doing, everytime I passed them, the following couple of weeks.

Come to think of it, I'm sure thats the main reason why my mom calls me before every exam. Can't really blame her for doing so, can I? :P

Fluffy updates - part 5

2005-11-27T15:52:00.000-08:00

I received a postcard today - from France.

No wonder Onkar and I could not find Fluffy. The kidnapper (who we now know was Kedia), had taken him across the globe. Come to think of it, Kedia always did look a little French to me.

Just seeing that look of fear on Fluffy's face and Kedia's sadistic smile makes me want to do things to Kedia which are inappropriate to be mentioned here. One can only imagine the kind of tortures that poor, defenseless alligator has been subjected to.

Enough said; its time for action now. Onkar is already on a flight to Paris as I write this. Stay tuned for more updates.

The Child In All Of Us

2005-11-26T11:39:00.000-08:00

You know you still have a long time to go before you are all grown up when you can still enjoy a game of air-hockey without a care in the world.

Tonight, I had a nice dinner with friends, after which we were offered a coupon for a free token at a nearby video-game arcade. One of my friends and I actually ran to the arcade to redeem the coupon and a minute later we were happily playing a game of air-hockey with little kids looking on and cheering. It sure was difficult not to swear in front of kids but we managed somehow. Half-an-hour later and 40 bucks poorer, I emerged the champion having beaten 3 of my friends at the game. Its nice to be a child all over again without a care in the world - sometimes.

P.S.: The child in that pic is not me. I'm much cuter. :P

Relationships - Part I

2005-11-26T03:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I spent my entire day watching this great American drama 'Prison Break'. As the title would suggest, the show is about prison inmates who are desperate to break out of prison.

What is really interesting about the show is the fact that the lead character, Michael, a successful architect (I think), tries to rob a bank in broad daylight - to get himself thrown in prison. His reason for doing this is later revealed - his brother, Lincoln, is serving time in the same prison on charges of murder, which he supposedly did not commit, and is about to be executed in a month's time. So Michael hatches up this flawless scheme to break his brother out of prison for which he first has to enter the prison walls.

There are many movies/serials/books about guys going out of their way for their girlfriends/wives/etc (and vice-versa) but this was probably the first show I've seen which focused on such strong sibling-bonding. I mean the guy gets himself thrown in prison to save his brother. Wow!! I sure found that something. Don't know how many people would do something so drastic and throw their lives away for saving their siblings. Many a times you hear these cases of people completely breaking relationship bonds based on a person's wrong-doings. I mean I had read up somewhere that a family disowned a kid 'coz he was taking up drugs or something like that. And I'm sure that happens quite a few times.

In "Prison Break" all that Lincoln needed, to convince his brother that he didn't commit the murder, was to just tell him that. Thats some trust, and thats what I completely loved about the show. I keep remembering my brother while watching it and wondering whether I would ever go to such an extent for him.

Strange but True

2005-11-23T16:39:00.000-08:00

I have an exam today afternoon. Strange how my approach to exams has changed over the years!

In school, for my board exams I used to slog for days to no end. Then I came to IIT!

The first year had me all jittery for stupid 5% quizzes. Slowly and gradually, I grew up. For my (yet to happen) today's end-semester examination, I had been given 5 days preparatory leave. Thats quite a lot considering IIT exam standards. First 3 days I did nothing! Tuesday, when I wanted to start studying, a simple "I'm bored" on chat resulted in spending 4 hours at a nearby mall trying to see if a new bookstore had opened. That suffices to say that I didn't do a single minute of studying that day.

Finally opened my books on Wednesday afternoon, after leisurely getting up at noon. Haven't slept entire night; haven't been studying the entire time either. Its about 6 am right now and fortunately my course will get over in about an hour, giving me a couple of hours of sleep before I rush to the exam hall. But the thing is, I have no regret, no guilt for wasting my earlier 4 days and slogging at last moment after a night-out. It has its own thrill; its own charm. And, in fact, I just love it.

Great Indian Cinema Moments

2005-11-23T08:23:00.000-08:00

Found this great song yesterday. I think its from some old kannada (a south-Indian language) movie starring the great veteran actor Rajkumar (or so I was told).

What makes this song amazing is the fact that it has English lyrics, and such creative ones at that. The video can be picked up here. (Right click and select save-as to download video and make sure to rename the extension to ".wmv" if it is saved with some other extension). Its a 5 mb download but definitely worth the effort.

And if you happened to see the video for the first time through my blog, please do comment on the same. :)

Passive

2005-11-22T04:00:00.000-08:00

“Dead as dead can be,” my doctor tells me
But I just can’t believe him, ever the optimistic one
I’m sure of your ability to become my perfect enemy
Wake up and face me, don’t play dead cause maybe
Someday I will walk away and say, “You disappoint me,”
Maybe you’re better off this way

Leaning over you here, cold and catatonic
I catch a brief reflection of what you could and might have been
It's your right and your ability
To become…my perfect enemy…

Wake up and face me ,
Don’t play dead
Cause maybe
Someday I’ll walk away and say, “You disappoint me,”
Maybe you’re better off this way

"Passive" by A Perfect Circle
(Lyrics by Maryard James Keenan)

Man On The Moon

2005-11-21T14:31:00.000-08:00

Its about 4 early morning and I just finished watching the movie "Man on the Moon" - a biopic on the late Andy Kaufman, a "different" American entertainer. And Oh My God, what a movie it turned out to be!

There would be people who would disagree with me on this, and I know that for a fact since I was watching it with 2 friends whose reactions were "This movie is so pakau (mind-numbing/boring)"; but at the end of it, I gave it a standing ovation and walked out appreciating the eccentric mind.

The movie projects an image of Andy Kaufman, brilliantly played by Jim Carrey, being this bizarre person whose only thoughts revolved around self-humour. And by self-humour I mean incidents which other people may or may not find humourous, but which provoke one's own funny bone. Andy started out doing bad imitations on stage with a queer foreign accent but later revealing it to be fake, leaving the audience entertained. Thoughout his career he played practical jokes on people for the purpose of self-humour, without caring whether the audience found it funny or not. His demise came at the age of 35 when he was diagnosed with lung cancer, but as a result of "crying wolf", people, to this-very-day, wonder whether he actually died, or staged his own death, a thought carefully captured in the last frames on the movie.

I'd earlier seen a similar biopic on "Ed Wood" the "crazy" director from the 1950s-60s whose taste in movies didn't go down too well with the audience; as was the case with Andy's "comedy". I had liked that movie as well. In my opinion, both Ed Wood and Andy Kaufman were completely eccentric and many a times, the people did not agree with their ideas giving them either an obscure or a negative public image. But what is missed altogether is the fact that they followed their dreams - which is what really matters in the end!

Fluffy updates - part 4

2005-11-20T12:22:00.000-08:00

A shocking incident occurred tonight. I was in my room when I heard a strange noise outside, at about 1 at night. Peeping out of my room, all scared, this is the sight that I witnessed.

It seems that a (not-so) silent intruder had crept into Onkar's room and kidnapped Fluffy - right from under our noses. As can be seen, Fluffy was petrified. Attempts to free him were met with hostile (and oh-so hurtful) ninja-chops. The assailant, then, escaped with Fluffy still captive.

As of now, all attempts are being made to track down the poor creature. Any information, regarding the same, would be heavily rewarded. Stay tuned for updates.

An Ode To Pacman

2005-11-20T04:23:00.000-08:00

Pacman is my favourite game.

For the uninitiated, Pacman started out as an arcade games in the 1980s and went on to become one of the most famous games of all time. It features a yellow spherical creature with a big mouth - called Pacman (you could see that coming, couldn't you?) - constantly running from these monsters who keep him from his ultimate happiness in life - eating dots placed of the floor (talk about unhygienic!) The actual fun part comes when he turns the tables and gobbles the monsters instead, on chomping down his special "power" dot.

Pacman is my idol, for obvious reasons. Not only does he (yes, I assume that 'he' is a 'he') tactfully evade plaguing danger when he has to, he is also only too happy to devour his nemesis when required. And he is in constant pursuit of the love of his life - eating.

I hail thee, Pacman!

On a lighter note, check out this line a friend of mine mailed me a couple of days ago - When asked about wearing a Pac-Man T-shirt throughout a Slayer-tour, bassist/singer Tom Araya was quoted saying that he wore the shirt because he considers Pac-Man the most violent game ever, since there's no other game where you have to eat your enemies.

Ever sat through....

2005-11-18T12:52:00.000-08:00

...an exam which left you wondering whether you were at some other examination centre, giving the wrong exam?

Today was my first such experience (and hopefully my last one at that.) Today's paper was something out of the Twilight Zone - eerie music and all - seriously. The first thing I did, after going through the questions, was look around to make sure that I was in the right classroom. The second thing I did was look at the header of the exam paper, wishing to God that the professor goofed up his exam paper with that of some other course. Unfortunately, it just wasn't my day today.

One good thing about being in the final year is that it makes one care very little about these things. I was hardy panicking, even though I should have been. Instead, I kicked off my shoes and sat there - even humming a little tune to myself. Lately I've realised that life is more than just sitting in some dark and dingy room, all tensed, writing an exam. Thats why these days I make it a point to sit at the very end of the classroom - near the window - so that I'm never far from escaping to my own reality.

Fluffy updates - part 3

2005-11-17T11:17:00.000-08:00

This is how I found Fluffy today upon returning to my room after my exam.I guess Fluffy got all nostalgic and was missing his home dearly (And by "home" I don't mean the IIT girls' hostel).

Come to think of it, Fluffy is an alligator after all. I mean he belongs in a swamp or someplace similar. I guess I'll ponder upon that for a while and see what can be done.

The Kedia Chronicles

2005-11-16T13:50:00.000-08:00

This is Piyush Kedia.

Kedia lives in the wing below mine and is one of my favourite torture-targets when I get bugged up with life. (You might find it interesting to note, that at the time of this posting, I'm in the middle of my exams!)

Today I decided to psyche him out, just for fun, ofcourse. So, I calmly went to his room downstairs, took a photograph of him (the same one above) and, showing the same calmness, came back; all without saying a single word.

After 5 minutes, Kedia comes to my room all confused, asking for explanation for what I just did. At that time, I acted surprised and completely denied anything like that ever happening - "But Kedia, I've been in my room for almost an hour now!".

Its about 7 hours, now, since that happened. Kedia has made innumerous visits to my room searching for answers but finding none. It think he may be finally going crazy.

Plan successful I believe!! >:-)

The Ultimate Goal!

2005-11-16T00:50:00.001-08:00

I'm back to blogging after a gap of one day (if you could call that a gap).

Anyway, lately I've been too involved in acads which made me a realize a few things about my life. See the thing is, all little boys and girls wanted to be either doctors or astronauts; except me. I always wanted to be a comic-book artist. As weird as it may seem, that was my aim in life - to draw my own comics.

As I grew up, I made the same mistakes which most unfortunate people make - I went with the flow. Everybody wants to take up Science stream in class; I did that. Everybody has to give the IIT exam coming out of school; I did that too. IITians have to study hard and get good grades, I'm (almost) doing that. Now its time for placements - I'll go for the same job that everybody is hoping to get. I'll probably also do an MBA to make more money than I would be making at some future point of my life.

But you see here lies the twist in the tale. Imagine if, your entire life, you keep doing what "other" people do and throw those little things in your life away. You slog 15 hours a day and earn big bucks. One day you die and hope for an after-life, where all you do is just lie around and do those little things which you really wanted to do in your life, but just didn't have the time to do so. Perfect line of thinking right? But, what if God says "You fool, there is no afterlife. What more are you expecting from me you idiot? I gave you a good 100 years to enjoy your life didn't I? Who told you to do whatever you did just because other people are doing that? I gave you that life to enjoy yourself - to do things which you wanted to do!"

Well, that would be what I would call - "getting screwed"!!

Coming back to my story, the reason I mentioned all this was because even though I might be doing what other people are doing, I'm only doing it with the intention of earning enough money. I say enough because it should be just about adequate to last me the rest of my life after I leave my job. Because then I could pursue that (almost forgotten) ultimate aim of my life -

To draw my own comic-books. :)

Letting it all out!

2005-11-14T05:27:00.000-08:00

Fluffy updates - part 2

2005-11-13T12:24:00.000-08:00

Reading up papers for a report seems boring. After a long day of work I still had 2 more papers to read up. Thats when our little friend offered to help.

Could you believe it that he read up the entire book in about 16 1/2 minutes. Its another thing that he could not understand a single word - but its the thought that counts (isn't it) !!!

Fluffy updates

2005-11-13T09:18:00.000-08:00

We left Fluffy in a room all alone for some time and on coming back, this is what we saw.Somehow Fluffy managed to start playing the Bollywood classic "Sholay" on the computer and was completely engrossed in the movie. Seems like he's enjoying his time with us.