A little bit of me...

Phir Milenge, Chalte Chalte

2010-07-01T22:15:00.002+05:30

A lot has happened recently on the professional and social front which makes up for the ennui in the personal space.
A lot more is yet to happen.
[Doesn't the possibility excite you?]
To use a cliché, sometimes the journey is more enjoyable than the destination.
I wish the same (the enjoyable part, not necessarily the more part) for this journey.
Obviously this means that I shall be more regular on Ghatak Snatak blog than here but do realize that as GS is a more professional face, I will appear here, albeit occasionally, to vent out all the conufsions which is the reason I haven't been able to delete this blog.
In short, add this to your reader for some sado-masochist rants.
Also, do visit Ghatak-Snatak.

Happy New Year

2010-01-02T20:45:00.002+05:30

:):)

My next birthday gift

2009-12-22T15:49:00.002+05:30

Tarun uvaach

2009-12-02T16:25:00.003+05:30

[On two-timing]

"...Krishna kare to Raas Leela, hum kare to Chiggy Wiggy ?"

What I think of Bhandarkar

2009-11-06T14:06:00.001+05:30

The reason that in spite of my love for movies and writing, I don’t write many reviews on my blog is that there are so many better people and reviews out there which capture what I want to say in a much precise manner. One such review is of Jail by (in)famous rediff reviewer Raja Sen. Replace Jail with Fashion, Page 3 or any other movie (except, may be, Chandani Bar) and you’ve got what I think of Madhur and his path-breaking ‘real’ cinema.

Bill Watterson says it better...

2009-10-30T20:31:00.001+05:30

Rama Chronicles

2009-05-22T10:43:00.001+05:30

Ek-do-teen-chaar
Shri Ram ki jai jai-kaar
.
Jo hamare Ram ka nahin
Wo hamare kaam ka nahi
.
Tel laga ke Dabur ka
Naam mita do Babar ka
.
Chahe mar bhi jayenge
Mandir wahi banayenge
.
Ek dhakka aur do
Babri masjid tod do
.
Raam naam satya hai
Babri to dhwast hai
.
Ye to kewal jhaanki hai
Mathura, Kashi baaki hai
.
Ae ho
Ka ho
Ram lala ki
Jai Ho!

All's well that ends well

2009-05-14T16:28:00.005+05:30

I like to imagine that -baring few with whom I chose to keep it like that- one can guess how (s)he is to me by simply answering how much that person knows about my ‘passport story’.

Under these circumstances,I am happy to declare that the story reached a satisfying (and happy) climax, a couple of weeks ago.

I was just lazy to post about it earlier.

Struck by lightening out of clear blue sky

2009-04-21T16:21:00.002+05:30

To be fair, monsoon is somewhere around the corner.

Guilty splurge of the month

2008-12-08T17:03:00.007+05:30

The Vertigo Encyclopedia

Making The Vertigo Encyclopedia

This really happened

2008-12-03T19:47:00.003+05:30

Tanganyika laughter epidemic

Eerily fascinating.

Twitterize

2008-07-06T01:03:00.001+05:30

Life support system for this blog to prevent an untimely death.
Excel is the new Word.
And it seems interesting too!
[cc:136]

I hope...

2008-07-04T16:40:00.003+05:30

...that at least this (paperback edition) should be available in India.

Upping the geekiness

2008-06-19T19:34:00.003+05:30

Abstruse Goose is the new xkcd.
Sample:
Math text
dckx
And the obligatory self-deprecating humor that we all love so much.

Why I regret quitting the job

2008-06-11T13:00:00.003+05:30

Releasing today

And I am counting only anime/comics/superheroes...

2008-05-02T18:16:00.002+05:30

Tonight : Iron Man
May 9 : Speed Racer
June 13 : The Incredible Hulk
June 27 : Wanted
July 2 : Hancock
July 11 : Hellboy II: The Golden Army
July 18 : The Dark Knight

My City Screams...

2008-04-25T12:35:00.003+05:30

[teaser trailer]

Why did no one tell me about this earlier?
'The Spirit', created by Will Eisner, is being directed by Frank Miller!!!
This might just lessen the wait for Sin City II and III.

Will There be Blood?

2008-04-09T20:14:00.002+05:30

Hi-tech and Pop-tech

2008-03-17T17:12:00.009+05:30

[The word tech shall mean all things primarily related to computers, IT, internet, gadgets, hardware and to a lesser extend, theoretical sciences and mathematics (effect of Slashdot). With all due respect, all other branches (mechanical etc.) would come under ‘engineering’ and not technology.]

I love technology. There, I said it. Those who know me personally might not believe this coming from me after my infinite ramblings on how much I hated my department (Electrical Engineering) and how I hate coding and related things. But the truth is that I am fond of technology.

The tech that interests me is not the hardcore coding and theoretical stuff but the cooler, softer shades of it which can be understood without getting neck deep into scripting. Things which are 'cool', 1337 and which make our online experience a delight. The feeling of being a (pseudo) geek as a result of these activities, is purely an additional perk. For me, it started with the interest in the specifications of the latest gadgets in the market and the configuration of the laptop/desktops of my batchmates. As soon as I got a computer, I ventured more and more into this territory. It would be something as simple as testing different versions of dc++ to more subversive and desperate measures to download movies through trespassing in the Bio-tech department through a broken window at 3 am in the nights and gaining access to their server to run torrents ( We downloaded around 20 GBs of movies in a fortnight!). Now, I am not claiming that I am the uber-geek and go-to-person for all things technical, but I can say that I have a fair bit of knowledge in this domain. Or I can fake so.

For the lack of better word and in the spirit of self-deprecation, I define these set of technologies as Pop-tech.
Rest (scripting, academic courses, assignments etc.) would be referred as ~~high-brow-elitist-snobbish-neo-nazi-virgin-sad~~ Hi-tech.

The symptoms of addiction to Pop-tech could be as subtle as the obsession to click F5 repeatedly, watching with wild excitement the defragmenting of E: drive to otherwise beneficial (to others, of course) aspects like sharing terabytes of data/movies without even watching a single one of them, ripping movies and contributing to the healthy sex-life of the fellow batchmates. [I think it is appropriate to thank DARKLORD, N@lim, Dr@g0N, B00B_HACKER and many unnamed contributers who all graciously lent a hand for the noble cause.]

People have their niche(s) in Pop-tech from which they get kicks. For some people, it could be having night-outs to learn Photoshop, Maya and similar packages as opposed to say Matlab and Pspice. For others (Sudeep, Shakti), xml, SQL, DHTML, apache gives them the kick. Some (Biak) indulge in customizing various RPGs and getting newest bots, maps and ammos. And for some (Bhavya, urbanpro), it can be bloody everything under and over the sun!

Using Matlab, Pspice, Fluent and gnuplot (Tani) also counts in Pop-tech if not used for any academic purpose.
The biggest set of Pop-tech lovers constitutes of people who worship Linux and would die willingly (and virgin) while expanding the cause of free-software movement (free, as in Free Speech! Mind it!). They have a favorite distro (Mandrake 10.X for me) and spend most of their waking hours on support forums discussing finer details of the entire GNU/Linux naming controversy. Since, it involves significant amount of Shell scripting, I won’t be talking about it.
I speak solely on the basis of my experience and I can say that there is a strong correlation between interest in Hi-tech and interest in Pop-tech. Interested people usually are as good in pipelining, hacking, RPGs, Photoshop as in VHDL (Anjul) or SQL (Ram). On the other end of the spectrum are the people who aren’t ‘into’ either Hi-tech or Pop-tech and these concepts occupy as much as grey cells for such people as the thought of shaving/bathing would occupy my previous batchmates’.
But we’re more interested in the exceptions. There are people who are god-like in Hi-Tech (Rajat, Pradeep) but otherwise are so technologically illiterate that they can’t tell RSS from VHP (Rajat, Pradeep). Some (Shalabh) abhor both Hi-Tech and Pop-Tech (my views only) and compare it with the sewage system of the cities: necessary, not desirable and better-if-I-don’t-know-it-exists. Sadly, even they need to flush sometimes.
I, and few of the junta referred in this post are the kind of people who finds Hi-tech and the entire academic halo around it repulsive if not REPULSIVE. In my view, this entire Pop-tech culture is subversive like LAN gaming but manages to be a step above the ugly underbelly-ness of LAN gaming. I believe proponents of Pop-tech do it to prove a point (hey! I know of an application to hide any program in the system tray. I shall use in when I get a job to chat and blog and my manager wouldn’t have a damn clue. I am not entirely worthless…). They are driven by a mixture of the feeling of self-righteousness (I didn’t sell out like you, you 9 pointer!), delusion of being a maverick, promised fame (I share 690 GBs on dc++), boredom (hmm… I wonder what would this command do), and to a certain degree, interest.
I consider myself a very user manual driven person. I am open to new technologies if I can find enough support and guides to walk me through them step-by-step. This is the reason that I give up when things get more complex or require hands on learning. Such as the time when I was learning Illustrator CS3 or PHP or Maya. Whereas, I am not averse to scripting if it is only a small part of the process and given that I have sufficient support/guides. I religiously follow Slashdot; like xkcd more than dilbert and have joined facebook primarily to try different apps. I have a newfound respect for PhD students because of this. I have strong opinion on iPhone’s SDK, Wii, Web 2.0 and drool over Microsoft Surface even though I haven’t yet figured a real need of it. I am always on the hunt for new widgets for the blogs (the absence of which on this page can be attributed to my laziness and my 3-4 failed attempts to overhaul the template of the blog. Thank God for the Restore Default Template option.) I hang around cnet, techtree more than bbc; prefer MIT’s ocw over books/wikipedia; know my would be Home-theatre system down to its last detail; celebrated Blu-ray’s victory by raising toast for Betamax and prefer Sci-Tech questions made by Anjul any day over MELA question made by Anjul.
The motivation for this post came while one day, going through the archives of xkcd ( I am done with ALL the strips. Several times.) I came to know about Ruby. A little bit of searching made me stumble upon this cool software package to –hold your breadth- design your own RPGs. And the icing on the cake being it involves Ruby Game Scripting System (RGSS). I spend hours figuring it out in with the (pipe)dreams of making my own super cool, full of inside jokes, RPG- Tulob Gore (Don't ask). But all this excitement turned out to be short lived as I found the RGSS a bit cumbersome for me (I hate coding, remember?)and so had to abandon the plans of making a RPG with Lord c0nufsed pitted against the darkest and the foulest creatures which ever roamed the (RPG Maker VX’s) universe.
Alas, It would have involved strong language, violence and ~~tons of hardcore~~ brief nudity too.
On the positive side, I successfully use Tray-it to hide applications and to blog/chat in the office.

Litost-II

2008-03-06T18:14:00.005+05:30

'...nShe loved the guy. She did it for him. She would’ve done anything for him. Some women are like that. Some loves are like that. Most loves are like that, from what I can see. Your heart starts to feel like an overcrowded lifeboat. You throw your pride out to keep it afloat, and your self-respect and your independence. After a while you start throwing people out- your friends, everyone you used to know. And it’s still not enough. The lifeboat is still sinking, and you know it’s going to take you down with it. I’ve seen that happen to a lot of girls here. I think that’s why I’m sick of love.’

- Karla [Shantaram, pg. 63]

News from home (Bhopal)

2008-02-15T14:40:00.004+05:30

You all must have seen similar posts/news items already but I couldn't resist linking this up:
On V-Day, Bajrang Dal men force couple to get 'married'

From the article:
...VHP spokesperson and Bajrang Dal leader Devendra Rawat said his outfit had issued a warning that any couple spotted celebrating Valentine's Day would have to get married. He said, "Our activists found the couple in the park. We didn't misbehave with them. We asked them to get married."

Tu hindu banega na musalman banega...

2008-02-06T19:00:00.000+05:30

Something is very comforting and positive about the fact the three of the greatest Bollywood bhajans
Man re tu kaahe na dheer dhare...
Allah Tero Naam, Ishwar Tero Naam...
Ishwar Allah Tere Naam...
were written by Sahir Ludhiyanvi; a Muslim by birth, an atheist by choice.

R.I.P. Heathcliff Andrew Ledger (April 4, 1979 – January 22, 2008)

2008-01-23T21:56:00.000+05:30

Hello.
I came to talk.
...
I have been THINKING lately. About you and me.
About what's going to happen to us, in the END.
We're going to KILL each other, aren't we?
...
Perhaps You'll kill me. Perhaps I'll kill you. Perhaps sooner. Perhaps later.

-The Dark Knight [Page 5, The Killing Joke by Alan Moore]

Philosophy of SouthPark

2008-01-03T15:19:00.000+05:30

It would have been tragic had it not been funny.

Statuary warning

2007-11-06T12:18:00.000+05:30

Don't say you weren't warned before!

[Thanks: Baba, Mathur]

Literature corrupts...

2007-11-05T14:07:00.000+05:30

Absolute literature corrupts absolutely...

R.I.P -III

2007-09-06T12:04:00.001+05:30

Luciano Pavarotti
(October 12, 1935 – September 6, 2007)

"The web of our life...

2007-09-03T18:15:00.000+05:30

... is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together."

~William Shakespeare [All's Well That Ends Well]

An idea can change your life
Hello SHONA!
Watch!
Bittersweet memories
Bigotry
I love it!
QT!
Voyage in Time
Suck this
Let it bleed
But She Don't Flow to Me!
Spider Pig
The Priest is Left
Fun and Freedom
Strange and Beautiful
Hello sunshine!
A Story
"..........."
The Second part!
Fade to Black!
londe
FYI
Hey!

I haven't been teased more...

2007-08-31T17:10:00.000+05:30

B: I knew the mob wouldn't go down without a fight. But this is different. They crossed the line.
A: You crossed the line first, sir. You hammered them. And in their desperation they turned to a man they didn't fully understand. Some men aren't looking for anything logical. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.
.
.
.
.
The Joker: Starting tonight... people will die. I'm a man of my word.

Grief

2007-08-28T13:43:00.000+05:30

At times like these, you start believing in concepts you though were too ‘generic’ to be applied in any specific case or plain stupid. Like the time when I couldn’t believe that people actually nod their head in agreement whenever ‘Stockholm syndrome’ was mentioned. Then, IIT happened.
They say Denial is the first step. If this was true, then it’s going to be really long. And tough.

Yesterday I realized that

2007-08-28T13:42:00.002+05:30

... they don’t teach you to read the signs when déjà vu is happening the first time around. … I didn’t know that the elephants in my room have populated the bandwidth of Airtel as well.
… self realization usually happens too late for an escapist. Worse if he is a procrastinator.
… in retrospect, I had so many premonitions.
… it still hurts.

Vent, Vodka (or the lack of it), Cinema Paradiso and Catharsis.

2007-08-28T13:42:00.001+05:30

‘…and then there are movies that change the way you dream.’ (Thanks: Saket H. Jha)
In the dead of night, I try to run away from truth and seek Smirnoff which is slightly difficult to source at this hour of night. What next best option do I have? Let’s leave out suicide, Floyd, friends, literature, a nice walk and similar self destructing habits. I tell you. It is for this very day that I kept stocking DVDs upon DVDs of movies from the uber prolific LAN of IITD, IITM (bofi), IITK (Bandy), IIMC (Amon) and with generous inputs from Shalabh, Gai Bai Sok (don’t smirk, that’s what his parents chose to call him.) Lostcause, Abhinav, Stan, Stan’s friend, Stan’s friend’s cousin, Stan’s friend’s cousin’s friend and good old torrents. And to suit my mood, I decided to see choicest scenes from ten most gratifying, violent and gory movies dripping with blood and black humor that I could find in my first case of DVDs. (That’s right I am in a show off mood today!)
After 10 DVDs and few hours.
I absolutely love Tarantino. God bless his divine touch.
Pulp Fiction justifies the position of humans at the top of the food chain. God bless QT.
The first original DVD that I shall buy has got to be Kill Bill box set in Japanese with the butchering of “Crazy 88” scene in it full colorful glory. Hail QT.
Die hard kicks 1000 times more a$$ than any other action flick.
One minute of CRANK kicks 10000 times more a$$ than all of Die Hard movies put together.
Oldboy over Old Monk. Anyday.
Zack Snyder can go ahead and screw Watchmen royally and I won’t even twitch. The guy gave us ‘300’ da…
An old man dies. A young girl lives. Fair trade.

Two confessions

2007-08-28T13:39:00.000+05:30

I love making convoluted posts. The downside is that too much involvement of Captain Subtext ensures that no one else (and sometimes, not even I) can understand the post.
In a moment of epiphany, all my doubts about anonymous blogging, blogging being social whoring and similar questions raised by professor RF were cleared and NO, I am not going to share the answers with you. One has to learn to pay for his glass of Smirnoff.

Litost

2007-08-27T17:07:00.000+05:30

'It is an untranslatable Czech word. Its first syllable, which is long and stressed, sounds like the wail of an abandoned dog. As for the meaning of this word, I have looked in vain in other languages for an equivalent, though I find it difficult to imagine how anyone can understand the human soul without it.
Litost is a state of torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery...Love’s absolute is actually a desire for absolute identity: the woman we love ought to swim as slowly as we do, she ought to have no past of her own to look back on happily. But when the illusion of absolute identity vanishes (the girl looks back happily on her past or swims faster), love becomes a permanent source of the great torment we call litost...Anyone with wide experience of the common imperfection of mankind is relatively sheltered from the shocks of litost. For him, the sight of his own misery is ordinary and uninteresting. Litost, therefore, is characteristic of the age of inexperience. It is one of the ornaments of youth. Litost works like a two-stroke engine. Torment is followed by the desire for revenge. The goal of revenge is to make one’s partner look as miserable as oneself. The man cannot swim, but the slapped woman cries. It makes them feel equal and keeps their love going. Since revenge can never equal its true motive, it must put forward false reasons. Litost is, therefore, always accompanied by a pathetic hypocrisy.
The closest translation is "sorrow", but it is not the same.'

The Book of Laughter and Forgetting | Milan Kundera

WAR

2007-08-24T12:24:00.000+05:30

OMG! OMG! Is this for real? The trailer is awesome and it left me shaking at the end of this. This, together with trailers of NCfOM and The Darjeeling Express made my day. This is so promising. Just when I thought that they can’t better Crank, they…

JET LI vs. JASON STATHAM. PERIOD.

And since the show must go on...

2007-08-23T10:45:00.000+05:30

I'll wait for these too.

The Darjeeling Limited: Wes Anderson

There Will Be Blood: Paul Thomas Anderson

Eastern Promises: David Cronenberg

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead: Sidney Lumet

No Country for Old Men : Coens'

2007-08-23T10:21:00.000+05:30

You wait.
You stop going to the theatres.
You get restless. You watch the trailer. Reassured, you wait.
Because you know that this is going to come.
You too will wait.

Zenagram

2007-08-17T10:46:00.000+05:30

A three and a half hour lecture on 'Corporate ethics' can do wonder to your creativity. I came up with these two anagrams which I thing hint closely towards the final answer. I am particularly proud of second one. I do not intend to say that they are tough. Just that I am satisfied with them.
Use psychology.

1. Back to ruin
2. I line manga

30 45 hours

2007-08-13T15:04:00.000+05:30

>O< sachchi!!!

Who's WHO

2007-08-01T20:21:00.000+05:30

It's official. The secret is out.

R.I.P -II

2007-08-01T19:33:00.000+05:30

Michelangelo Antonioni
( 29-Sep-1912 30-Jul-2007)

For Watchmen junkies (and other fans of Moore)

2007-08-01T19:19:00.001+05:30

Stumbled upon this. A repository of various nuggets by/on Alan Moore, Watchmen and the likes. Some that I downloaded (and will go through ASAP, hopefully) are:

2000 A.D. #176
“The Dating Game” published in 1980 and marks the first teaming of Alan Moore and fellow Watchmen creator Dave Gibbons for this 4 page story.

Old Gangsters Never Die
This story originally appeared in 1983 as the inner sleeve for The Sinister Ducks 7” single record released by Moore and his band. The sleeve folds out into an 8-page comic, “Old Gangsters Never Die” with Lloyd Thatcher art. This was recently redone in Alan Moore’s Another Suburban Romance with all new art, here is your chance to see the original.

The Importance of Being Frank
This 6 page article originally appeared in The Daredevils #1 in 1983, and has never been reprinted. Moore talks in-depth about Frank Miller and his work on Daredevil, and why he admires his writing ability.

The World Of The Watchmen
This essay originally appeared in the Watchmen game module “Taking Out The Trash” published by Mayfair Games in 1987. While trying to write the story for the game module, Ray Winninger (the module writer) had several conversations with Alan Moore about the Watchmen and their world. This essay is a result of those conversations and is credited to both Ray Winninger and Alan Moore

Watchmen script pages
These 6 script pages original appeared in the Graffiti Designs Limited Edition Watchmen hardcover in the “Minutes” section. These are the only published script pages from Watchmen ever released, and definitely a must read for all Moore/Watchmen fans.

Watchmen Movie 1989
The link below is to the Watchmen movie script written by Sam Hamm, he also wrote the first Batman movie if I am not mistaken. It was written in 1989 and shows us what Hollywood had in mind for our heroes.

Twilight of the Superheroes
The link below is to the most famous Moore story never done, Twilight of the Superheroes. This was a story proposal he made to DC after Watchmen, it tells the story of the end of the DC universe as we know it. You owe it to yourself to read this fascinating story of what could have been.

Old Gangsters Never Die MP3 Full Version
This was originally a 7” single released in 1983 by Alan Moore and his band ‘The Sinister Ducks”. Side A is the song “March of the Sinister Ducks” and Side B is “Old Gangsters Never Die”. The inner sleeve folds out into an 8-page comic “Old Gangsters Never Die” with Lloyd Thatcher art .

R.I.P.

2007-07-30T17:51:00.000+05:30

Ingmar Bergman
(July 14, 1918 - July 30, 2007)

CHOOSE!

2007-07-30T16:21:00.000+05:30

Society invents a spurious convoluted logic tae absorb and change people whae's behaviour is outside its mainstream. Suppose that ah ken aw the pros and cons, know that ah'm gaunnae huv a short life, am ay sound mind etcetera, etcetera, but still want tae use smack? They won't let ye dae it. They won't let ye dae it, beacuse its seen as a sign ay thir ain failure. The fact that ye jist simply choose tae reject whit they huv to offer. Choose us. Choose life. Choose mortgage payments; choose washing machines; choose cars; choose sitting oan a couch watching mind-numbing and spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fuckin junk food intae yir mouth. Choose rotting away, pishing and shiteing yersel in a home, a total fuckin embarrassment tae the selfish, fucked-up brats ye've spawned to replace yourself. Choose life.
Well, ah choose no tae choose life. If the cunts cannae handle that, it's thair fuckin problem. As Harry Lauder sais, ah jist intend tae keep right on to the end of the road ...
Chapter: "Blowing It: Searching for the Inner Man"

Working 9 to 7-ish for an MNC and then coming back to read this, feels surreal and well, a bit perverse.

NIRVANA

2007-06-14T19:34:00.000+05:30

I need an easy friend
I do, with an ear to lend
* About a Girl

Just because you're paranoid
Don't mean they're not after you.
* Territorial Pissings

I miss the comfort in being sad.
* Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle

All in all is all we all are.
* All Apologies

Something in her eyes
Must be the smoke in my lungs.
* Clean Up Before She Comes

I need you around
To remind me what not to become.
* Blandest

addendum: Silly me, i forgot to add the one line which inspired me to write this post. Well , whatever, nevermind...

If you don't mind, I would like to breathe
* Blew

Metamorphosis

2007-06-14T19:07:00.000+05:30

From

This Friday...

2007-06-13T13:50:00.000+05:30

Did you notice the balding, hairy, short guy with a paunch? Well, he is going to SUPERSTAR in the costliest Indian movie ever (yeah, it's not Bollywood) costing around 600 million and what more, in this summer with the dearth of decent hollywood or half decent bollywood ( and bhojpuri) movies, I might actually be one of the viewer cheering to his cigaratte juggling, hip swaying antics. And wait, since its claim of being the costliest Indian movie shall be quickly overshadowed by Dashavataram (again not bollywood! Bhansali are you listening?), I'll be a cheery audience to that as well.
My one very good friend assures me that Tamil movies are several notch better than their hindi counterparts. They have better music, cinematography and packaging to suit the palate of people brought up on (ironically) bollywood masala flicks.
Both the movies promises to be great entertainer by roping so many big (and long) names. Directed by Shankar, its music is by A.R. Rahman. The only downfall he said that you can't show anything less than complete ecstasy in front of the fans everytime their god appears on the silver screen.

Dasavatharam on the other hand boasts of some Kamal Hasan but all know the real crowd puller would be Himesh-the-guy-who-filled-in-after-Rahman-dropped-out-Reshamya which bring me to my next movie (actually THE movie) of the summer.

The must watch this summer is none other than Aap ka suroor: The real luv story! The looong awaited movie will smash all records, be the biggest hit ever, drive fans and non fans crazy. This will be the one tight slap to the fraternity of Yashrajland and most of all, it will put Shahrukh to shame ( The real man DOES NOT take off his clothes and bares his (one) nipple with a giggle but is fully clothed. With a beard. And a Jacket. And a cap. In summer. Even in lock up. Even while his car is somersaulting. Thrice.)
To match the status of Rajini and what's-his-face Kamal, we now have HR and I resolve to watch Aap ka suroor first day all show at Saket. Partner or no partner. Hats off to you Himesh!

100 things to do before graduating from IIT

2007-05-10T12:52:00.000+05:30

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
#85: Take a major -when you need 15 marks out of 35 to pass and you've barely touched the notes- after getting HIGH on Smirnoff ----- check.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

I have too many pet elephants...

2007-05-07T17:07:00.000+05:30

...and they accompany me to every room.

Look male!

2007-04-04T15:36:00.000+05:30

If it wasn't for my procrastination, you'ld have seen this image almost three months ago.

Let there be light...

2007-02-16T18:00:00.000+05:30

Note: never listen to strangers after getting drunk. Especially, strangers who bear uncanny resemblance to Prot of the movie K-Pax. Chances are that they are only voices in your head even though they are wearing Bono's Oakley goggles.
Oh Yes, there will be BLOOD!
Are you a man? Ever wondered how much the pulling a strip one-step-hot-wax-hair-removal-kit hurts? Trust me, a LOT. But even that pain was nothing in comparison to peeling still fresh bandages from a two day old four inch long wound. When I saw it's video tape later, I noticed that I was screaming like a pashtun commander massacring hazaras in mazar-e-sharif. Also, my legs were shaking like the stupid headless body of a freshly sacrificed lamb.
But no sir, I didn't stopped at this. From the bathroom, I fetched a bottle of hydrogen peroxide and cleaned the wound. It stung more than the previous bottle of bagpiper club soda. But was I rewarded! The sight of the white throbbing muscle which after 3-4 seconds started dripping blood gave me a high that all the junkies can't even fathom in their combined wet dreams! Or may be I just fainted...
How could I better this? I could try cutting the wound, carving Yuti's name but there is no novelty in that. Also, Yuti now has all the space she needs.
Wait,potassium permanganate and potassium perchlorate are supposed to be very good oxidizer. Now we just need a fuel and a light.
The wounds on my leg were not deep. At least, not in comparison to those on my hands. I never gave the bitch any chance to cause any more damage than she had already done. Some cuts, bruises and bites were deliberate, so as not to offend her self respect; to assure her that even during her last minutes, she made life hell for me. But I digress...
Before I had to leave on hearing the sirens in the emergency ward of the hospital, I poured a bottle of potassium permanganate on the leg wounds and covered it with as much as cotton and bandage as I could. At least I tried.
Two days I lied with a bottle of vodka by my side. Gave the cuts, gashes and the memories all the time and rest they needed before digging them up again. The cotton became one with the scabs- all dark chocolate-y and hideous.I toyed with the idea of stripping it too but like I said, I had a better idea. I was out of cigarettes and was lighting matches to humor myself. Got bored after a couple of sticks burnt my tongue and left a strange sulphur-y taste. This is not as fun as Aamir Ghulam Khan made it look like.
Why does it itches where you can't reach unless you are a goddamn contortionist? And at the worst possible times? Not that I ever thought twice before doing so whether in elevator, waiting rooms or morgues.
So to cut a long story short, I lighted a match and showed it to the cotton sticking out of the wound. Oh the joy, the sweet pain... Hot holy mother of sweet Jesus Hallowed Christ! I was once again the pashtun war lord Marquee de Masoce in mazar-e-sharif, whose hysterical laughter even drowned the sound of his A.K. 47.
I am going to get away from everything. The smell of the burning wound did what Sujata's kheer did for Gautam. Not even the 'first blood' of any virgin (not any more) can think of even coming closer to the divine scent of one's own burning flesh sprinkled with vodka from time to time. It was all clear to me now, I realised that my destiny is not to rot doing what I do, but to be a butcher in Cambodia.
Why Cambodia?
Less hassles with law, you see.

Fine, fuck it!

2007-02-16T16:09:00.000+05:30

It came as a natural response when I was pissed off with someone and it took quite an effort on my part to stop myself from blurting it out. Since then, the phrase is stuck in the back of my mind, like the butter on the roof of your mouth, always on the surface, irritating the hell out of you, desperately trying to get out...
It has been over a week a now and situation is pretty much under control as I've learnt to live with it. Thank goodness, I finally got a chance y'day night to scream it a number of times. Sucks for R though. Anyway, it felt very good that I wanna do it again. Not in my head, this time, out loud. Yes, I want them to hear and know that I don't care. At least I don't want to.

Impromptu

2007-01-13T05:15:00.000+05:30

Same craziness, almost same people...
But Agra it is, this time.

Sirtáki

2007-01-12T17:33:00.000+05:30

Anyone game ?

In

2007-01-05T23:03:00.000+05:30

'The Zone'

Updated: Been there, done that!

2006-12-27T03:02:00.000+05:30

Face to face
Heart to heart
Hand in hand
Anytime, anywhere....

And this is the writing that was inscribed:

2006-12-27T02:53:00.000+05:30

MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN.

-Daniel 5:25, KJV

[What this V would've written...]

Thought for the week

2006-12-13T23:18:00.000+05:30

One day at a time. Every step in front of another.
Each step counts, make it large.

Phoenix

2006-11-30T21:18:00.000+05:30

Iti.
Khattam shud, Memento mori, about time, comfortably numb, wasted years, fade to black, danse macabre, the end, Nirvana.
Metamorphosis.
Genesis, A better resurrection, fresh start, clean slate, turn over a new leaf, smell the roses, Carpe diem, La Vita è bella.
Ath.

You Stop You Die

2006-11-29T19:44:00.000+05:30

Chev Chelios: HEY! I just chopped off your hand! How f**king awesome was that?
How can you not love a movie peppered with dialogues like that!

This is Crank. In brief: Jason Statham, on crack, kicking a$$.

Let me make one thing very clear, those who look for deeper meanings and solution to life’s problem in movies just don’t deserve to see Crank.This movie has no story, just a one line plot. After a score went sour, hit man Chev Chelios is poisoned by his boss with a Chinese drug which will kill Chev in one hour if his adrenaline level falls below a certain limit. Chev has one hour to find his boss and kill him and meanwhile he has to do every possible trick to keep his (and our) adrenaline high.
This movie is pure madness. It has scenes after scenes of what you always fantasized of seeing on celluloid: raunchy sex on road in front of over two hundred people, car being driven at full speed through a mall, wounded Chev being chased by gangsters AND getting a BJ, hand being chopped off, hand getting caught in a sewing machine, naked Chev running through the city with a hard on and a whole lot of other simply wacky scenes. This is entertainment at its best.
I liked Jason Statham before this, but now I am his die-hard fan. His role as Chev has changed the idea of masculinity on screen for me. No Rocky, Rambo or John McClane even comes closer. Equally brilliant is Amy Smart (I really liked the way her character arches through the movie). Her exchanges with Jason in her apartment are masterfully done though you can see ghosts of a similar sequence in Pulp Fiction (with Bruce Willis and his dame, Fabienne).
The casting is good and I was delighted to see Efren Ramirez after Napolean Dynamite. I wish they had shown more of him. Also, even though Crank has a lot of violence and flesh, it isn’t gory. A perfect movie to watch during majors.
Look who made this movie- Mark Neveldine & Brian Taylor. These guys had nothing to their credit before and had worked as technicians or stunt directors only. So, they did what they were best at: Paper thin plot with a lot of action and impressive technical jugglery.The new wave of British action directors is surely hitting the right nerve with movies with ever-scarce black humour packaged with gritty presentation.
And lastly, Crank has a wonderful tagline which I have been oft-repeating lately: Was uns nicht umbringt, macht uns stark. (What does not kill us, makes us stronger.)

Heat

2006-11-28T02:22:00.000+05:30

"Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner."

-Neil McCauley

You have a close friend. He has a recurring problem. You can help.
You ask. He doesn’t tell you. You guess it, solve it. It happens again.
You ask. He doesn’t tell you. You guess it, solve it. It happens again.
You ask- ‘sab chill hai?’ His lips barely part and a monosyllabic ‘ha’ is uttered.

Pissed to the core, this time you take his answer on its face value.

Four flicks and a symphony

2006-11-23T20:41:00.000+05:30

Crank rocks.
Casino Royale was good.
The Departed sucked. Bigtime.
After the opening scene, SAW III goes downhill.
&
I rediscovered 'November Rain'.

November Rain by Guns N' Roses

When I look into your eyes
I can see a love restrained
But darlin' when I hold you
Don't you know I feel the same
'Cause nothin' lasts forever
And we both know hearts can change
And it's hard to hold a candle
In the cold November rain
We've been through this such a long long time
Just tryin' to kill the pain
But lovers always come and lovers always go
An no one's really sure who's lettin' go today
Walking away
If we could take the time to lay it on the line
I could rest my head
Just knowin' that you were mine
All mine
So if you want to love me
then darlin' don't refrain
Or I'll just end up walkin'
In the cold November rain

Do you need some time...on your own
Do you need some time...all alone
Everybody needs some time...on their own
Don't you know you need some time...all alone
I know it's hard to keep an open heart
When even friends seem out to harm you
But if you could heal a broken heart
Wouldn't time be out to charm you

Sometimes I need some time...on my
own Sometimes I need some time...all alone
Everybody needs some time...on their own
Don't you know you need some time...all alone

And when your fears subside
And shadows still remain, ohhh yeahhh
I know that you can love me
When there's no one left to blame
So never mind the darkness
We still can find a way
'Cause nothin' lasts forever
Even cold November rain

Don't ya think that you need somebody
Don't ya think that you need someone
Everybody needs somebody
You're not the only one
You're not the only one

Minor blues...

2006-10-14T14:47:00.000+05:30

Real? Complex? Yes
DSP- Pain in the neck,
Transform, filter me.

Of The Guitarist who STILL doesn't like you...

2006-10-13T04:19:00.000+05:30

These days, there are only two movies that I am really looking forward to. They are- El Mariachi (RR) and Clerks II (Kevin Smith). There is something about the virginal works of avant-garde filmmakers which enchants us, inspires us. The spark of passion and raw talent is clearly visible. And if they are low budgeted and made without substantial financing, then –for me- they become simply irresistible. After being captivated by Clerks, I had been waiting desperately for Clerks II but forgot to ask one friend - who was coming to IIT with loads of movies - to bring it from his LAN. Also one of my seniors downloaded El Mariachi who after graduating, lives in Noida (or is it Gurgaon?) and ‘forgets’ to bring it every time he comes to IIT which is every other day. I just hope that I don’t over-expect from these two and spoil the experience.
On second though, I also want to see ‘The lady in the water’ (I am slightly biased towards Mr. Shyamalan; I even liked ‘The Village’ :| ) and ‘The Departed’. Even Scorsese can’t make this remake of Infernal Affairs dry like most of his other works. The movie jumped from 161^st to 60^th position on imdb Top 250 in a couple of days! I liked the original except for the climax which seemed rushed to me. It would be interesting to see how Scorsese treats the ending in the remake.

A Better Ressurection...

2006-10-13T03:15:00.000+05:30

I have no wit, I have no words, no tears;
My heart within me like a stone
Is numbed too much for hopes or fears;
Look right, look left, I dwell alone;
A lift mine eyes, but dimmed with grief
No everlasting hills I see;
My life is like the falling leaf;
O Jesus, quicken me.

-Sylvia Plath

Thanks TLC.

Third time lucky

2006-10-11T20:41:00.000+05:30

After movies and books have ceased to interest me, quizzing events are something that I look forward to (apart from conversations with few friends and ‘masti’ at ‘EB sarai’.) And so it hurts when one fails to qualify in the prelims.
Twice.
May be this is good; as it makes winning next time around feel so rewarding.

Never

2006-10-11T20:36:00.000+05:30

I told a friend that I wanted to discuss something important with him. He didn’t react or ask anything about it. So I suspect that he knows what I want to talk about and he wishes to avoid it. Now that topic shall never be brought up again.

This is our life...

2006-10-09T05:37:00.000+05:30

Check out this strip by Rajneesh Kapoor in HT City. The paper might suck but this guy rocks. Sample these-

Nostalghia...

2006-10-09T05:15:00.000+05:30

This post started almost two years back and was left incomplete a number of times till it was finally abandoned when one of my friends wrote a similar and much more balanced post on this topic. But since this is something that I have always wanted to share here, I will post the list that I made, without the comments.

Mahabharat
Swaraj
Kashish
Arundhati
Sea Hawks
Ajnabee
Farmaan
Buniyaad
Hum Log
Gul Gulshan Gulfam
Junoon
Udaan
Lifeline

Golder Hours

Swabhimaan
Shanti
Aurat

Neem ka Ped
Pachpan Khambe Laal Deewarein
Mitti Ke Rang
Tamas
Srikant
Tehreer
Mirza Ghalib
Vikram Betaal
Alif Laila

Fauji
Circus
Dil Dariya
Doosra Kewal
Nukkad
Naya Nukkad

Byomkesh Bakshi
Reporter
Lekin Wo Sach Tha

Jungle Book
Malgudi days
Stone boy
Gayab Aaya
Neev
School Days
Disney Hour
He Man
Chutti Chutti

Oshyeen
Street Hawk
Night Rider

Chitrahaar
Rangoli

Friday Night English Premire
Sunday Regional Movie

Shriman Shrimati
Dekh Bhai Dekh
Ye jo hai Zindagi
Wagle ki Duniya
Mr.Yogi
Zabaan Sambhalke
Karamchand
Ek se Badkar ek
Mungerilal ke Haseen Sapne
Peecha Karo
Mulla Nasseeruddin

The Great Maratha
Bharat Ek Khoj
Chanakya
Sword of Tipu Sultan
Akbar the Great

Surabhi
The World This Week
Turning point
Quiz Time
Guiness Book of Records
Pehel

Mile Sur Mera Tumhara
Ek Anek

Rath Yatra
Krishi Darshan
Classical Music

Stumbled upon this, once and found it most interesting-
Lajoji (Anita Kanwar) ne khaya badaam,
usme se nikla Haveliram (Alok Nath),
Haveliram ne kholi almaari,
usme se nikli Veerawaali (Kiran Juneja),
Veerawaali ne khaya paan, usme se nikla
Vrishbhaan (Vijayendra Ghatge)...

Sahare's Complaint

2006-06-13T11:43:00.000+05:30

If I remove you from my mailing lists, IMs’ friends’ lists, erase you from my phonebook, directory, and do not contact youfor say, six months, will you cease to exist in my life?
I would have thought otherwise but the experiences of past few months have made me answer this question in affirmative.
When asked: why have you stopped blogging, I (romantically) answered, “kyunki mera pet abhi bhara nahi hai”. The logic being that all these are works of people whose life is going comfortably fine and can afford to talk about banalities of their life so excitingly. It is like the philosophers of yesteryears who mostly belonged to affluent families and therefore, could give their life a purpose by asking the purpose of life.
Hence this post should not be taken to be anything but ramblings of an empty stomach. Also, this is time for summer internship and when every Tom, Dick and Bhanu is going places, I am stuck in IIT with virtually no friend to talk with. It were the conversations with some of the people –though an handful, now when I think of it- that kept me from crossing that fine line between sanity and its opposite and now when those voices are gone, I am realizing how pathetic I become when I am alone.
The frustration becomes insurmountable; so overpowering that you cease to console yourself that one day it will end. You stop believing in that day and fear that you are not going to have a single cheerful moment ever again.
It has its plus sides too. Since you no longer expect anything, the very simple things in life manage to give you pleasures. You feel blessed by taking a cold shower, when you walk alone in night and happen to run into someone you thought has long forgotten you. And then you start talking and it feels refreshing. Actually there are only two three people with whom I am having any semblance of conversation. Make that one- two if you discount chatting over mails.
Cinema has ceased to excite me. Books are unable to hold my attention. I have stopped seeing films. I would have stopped it a lot earlier, had Rebecca not happened. It reinstated my faith in the medium and is my favorite Hitchcock movie so far. Something tells me that I am going to like spellbound too.
The above paragraph totally failed to convey the disappointment I am actually feeling with books and movies and this is what I hate- lack of expressiveness. I have almost made it sound like I am not watching the right movies. I am afraid of people asking me simple, harmless question which THEY think I should be comfortable in answering. I am absolutely stumped when asked simply- wassup? Or worse (mostly on orkut ) AUR kya chal raha hai? What do they expect? The truth, or the expected answer-nothing much. Life is going fine blah..blah… I feel guilty of lying and am ashamed of feeling so. Are you even that interested in my life? People say (and I trust them at least on this) that I talk less. This is a topic deserving a post in itself so I will come quickly to the relevant point. In a conversation, when I speak I try to keep it soft and resultantly am more often than not interrupted. I let the other person complete and see whether he/she remembers what I was talking about. If he/she doesn’t that is the end of my conversation with him/her. Also dreadful are the questions like what are you going to do after future: CAT, GRE, job, IAS, nothing etc ? And I can only answer that I only know what I am no going to do: GRE (were you being sarcastic in even suggesting that ?) and IAS. About rest I am as clueless as you are.
Few people know that I like when things screw up. Badly. Things which happen around me and does not involve physical harm or labour. I like when the auto in which we are riding stops due to some problem, or some function gets cancelled, or some function is ruined because of rain and things like that. I think I will like it when I shall be shitty drunk and would desperately want to puke my guts out. On my last journey back home which I decided to embark upon on the eleventh hour, I had to travel in a general coach after many years for a long journey and the pleasure is almost indescribable. I had to sit in one posture only without drinking, eating anything, a wink of sleep or even stretching once for over eleven hours. I lost my wallet, the train arrived late, the density of population would make anyone think that we were trying to create a world record and yes the heat was unbearable. But I liked it. Somehow it provided some meaning to my going home. Home felt a lot nicer after such a journey. Someone –who more or less shares the feeling-, argues that these are moments of clarity as we realize that there are powers which control our life and we can’t influence them. It’s the realization of the helplessness and this reassures our faith in the all mighty higher power. I feel the reason for such an attitude lies in the fact that all such events have a limited time span. They can’t go forever and moreover, I KNOW when they are going to end. Like in the train journey, I counted every hour. About the drinking high, I know that I shall be normal in the morning -or in the worst case – afternoon. And therein lies the problem with IIT. I can’t seem to see the end. It is not only too far, it has the ability to extend and that my friend, is a reason good enough to be scared.
Scared and scarred- this is what I am going to be after I graduate from here.

Scribblings...

2006-04-23T22:16:00.001+05:30

I can't even begin to describe in words, how much I like rain.
Something(s) happened.
I thought that I would delete this blog after that.
Then, it rained.
No wonder 'But it rained' by Parikrama is one of my favourite song.
No wonder I liked Magnolia so much.
No wonder the last scene of Shawshank Redemption defines Catharsis for me.
No wonder 'Ashaad ka ek din' is my favorite play.
I so much want to believe in GOD right now.

Still Reluctant...

2006-02-19T16:46:00.000+05:30

Boycott Eveready batteries. They are made by Union Carbide India Limited.

Blog day

2005-10-21T17:06:00.000+05:30

Few days back...

was

Devil Rules

2005-10-21T15:58:00.000+05:30

The sole aim of this post is to annouce the arrival of a new blog (what's new in this ?) in the blogging world. This blog is by one of my close friend here at IIT who currently is on a cultural exchange programme to Sweden. Judging by his and SG's (not to be confused with SG's) blogs, exchange has certainly stimulated some serious thinking and revealed other (and much more interesting) dimensions of their personalities.
About the title of this post, -and latter half of the previous one-this (Shaitan Raj) was an anagram of the name of the fellow being talked here -Inhas Tajar.LAst year he was a QC rep of his hostel and WE (Shalabh me and Inhas's compatriot Mr. KGP (no connections with IIT KGP) -more about KGP and his reputationkabile ka sardar later-) were EDLC reps of our hostels. QC EDLC rivalry -on rep and poster level- was at its highest or as some would say- its lowest)and we made this we-think-this-is-funny poster making not so subtle remarks on QC. Half of the credit goes to a really fitting poem by Shalabh and those were the first traits we saw of a black-humored poet hiding in him.
The anagram was supposed to be taken in good humor (this post is my idea of good humor as long as I am not at the recieving ends)and something told me that it wasn't quite the case. But too much water has flown under the bridge since and now we are as close as two friends on opposite faces of world chatting for hours on net and discussing Life-train analogy, Tuna/Salmon/Reindeer dishes with ocassional 'Jai Kumaon' could be.
Talking to him and reading his post on Overacheivers, really made my day. I am looking forward to his arrival (also because he has promised to bring lots and lots of foreign movies :))but till then blogs and messengers are all we have.
In case you are still wondering-
No. we have been too polite to ask him and hence can't satisfy your doubts about his ethnicity. Though I faintly remember him giving some funda about some strange custom in his part of India (KumaooN)of reversing the name.

Of Ray and Shaitan Raj

2005-10-20T15:51:00.000+05:30

In my II semester, once my friend – (B9J for those who know him) and I started discussing the legend that Satyajit Ray was. Neither of us had seen any of his movies and just knew tits and bits about him. We talked and to be able to declare that he is over hyped, decided to see his ‘Pather Panchali’. We searched all the video parlors that we could cover in an evening but couldn’t get any of his movie. Most parlor-owners hadn’t heard of him and the one who had, declared that the CDs/DVDs of his movies are yet to be made. So we came to the conclusion that Ray IS actually over hyped and called it a day.
Silly, I know but that’s how things used to be in I year.
Over the time I realized Ray was in fact, a multi-faceted creative soul. I read his Feluda series and few articles about him. Still I couldn’t form an opinion about his movies or style etc.
Few days back while searching for a book to read in mid-sem break, I found a book-‘Our films Their films’ by Satyajit Ray and decided to read it before any other book.
Calling it excellent is certainly an understatement. It ranks high among my favorite books. This book is so good that I feel only someone like Arnav is fit to give a decent review of it. If his movies are even half as good as he writes –please don’t hang me for this- then certainly he is the best thing that happened to Indian cinema.
Last year I saw two French movies (L’Argent and Ladri di biciclette) as the part of a humanities course during Viraasat 2004 organized by SPIC-MACAY. I made a mental note of attending the movie screenings in Viraasat 2005. I got the schedule almost a month back but forgot about it till I saw this in HT City (pg. 2 ‘Gallery’ October 19,2005). Some very good movies are going to be screened in both fests but sadly due to their not so favorable timetable coupled with the problem of my short attendance (I can’t miss more morning classes now that I have received warnings from profs :( )
Schedule of movies to be screened in Viraasat 2005
4-Sep The Great Dictator Charlie Chaplin 1:00 PM IMI Qutab Instl. Area
5-Sep Pather Panchali Satyajit Ray 1:00 PM
7-Sep Modern Times Charlie Chaplin 10:00 AM Heritage Vasant Kunj
8-Sep Agantuk Satyajit Ray 10:00 AM Heritage Vasant Kunj
8-Sep Kagemusha Kurosawa 10:00 AM Uttam girl's school Gzb
9-Sep Pather Panchali Satyajit Ray 10:00 AM Uttam girl's school Gzb
16-Sep Modern Times Charlie Chaplin 10:00 AM Doon Public, Paschim Vihar
16-Sep Modern Times Charlie Chaplin 10:00 AM Mata Jai Kaur Ashok Vihar
17-Sep Charulata Satyajit Ray 5:30 PM Lady Irwin College
21-Sep The Great Dictator Charlie Chaplin 10:00 AM New Era Mayapuri
23-Sep The Great Dictator Charlie Chaplin 10:00 AM Jaspal Kaur Public Shalimar bagh
23-Sep Modern Times Charlie Chaplin 10:00 AM Bal Bharti Pitampura
23-Sep limelight Charlie Chaplin 6:00 PM BIMTECH Gr. NOIDA
6-Oct The Great Dictator Charlie Chaplin 10:00 AM Indraprastha Intl. Dwarka
24-Oct Modern Times Charlie Chaplin 10:00 AM Tagore Intl. Kailash
25-Oct LA Strada Fellini 2:00 PM St. Stephens
4-Nov Bicycle Thief De Sica 4:00 PM Meghdoot Hostel
7-Nov Pather Panchali Satyajit Ray 11:30 AM Ram lal Anand
8-Nov Modern Times Charlie Chaplin 10:00 AM Universal Public
8-Nov Agantuk Satyajit Ray 10:00 AM St. Pauls Hauz Khas
8-Nov Ghare Baire Satyajit Ray 11:30 AM Ram lal Anand
9-Nov Mirch Masala Ketan Mehta 3:30 PM Miranda House
10-Nov Seventh Seal Igmar Bergman 6:00 PM IIT
18-Nov Agantuk Satyajit Ray 10:00 AM DAV Sec-14 Faridabad

Of these I am interested in La Strada Pather Panchali, Agantuk, Ghare Baire, Seventh Seal, Agantuk but sadly won’t be able to see any thing other than Seventh Seal. I have already missed Charulata and Limelight and Raguko (Japanese sit down theatre) due to my negligence.
And I am pissed off now.

Different strokes:

2005-10-09T16:03:00.000+05:30

[wanted to write this with previous post but the juxtaposition of the two didn't appear right]
These days I see a lot of movies coming based on real life personalities and even more on books. This might be due to
1. It being tried and tested (riding on the success (or controversy) of the book)
2. Lack of creativity/new ideas etc (basically laziness)
3. director feeling too strongly about the topic/books.
I choose to avoid discussing its flip side.
Movies I discussed in 'wardrobe malfunction' post (capote etc.) were also based on books, real life incidents or both. Coming to movies on real life people -biopics, I am normally very skeptic about their success partly because I feel usually nothing happens so out of turn in one's life that a movie (that too a good one) can be based on it. Here I am not talking about real life incidents (for isn't truth stranger than fiction?) but real life personalities who are fairly famous.Because if you show only one phenomenal incident of a person's life than you are not making a movie on him. The movie then, is on the incident and not on the person. Of course interesting things happens, but quantitatively not enough to make a two/two & half hour movie about it also giving you the feel of all layers of the character. And when I am wrong, we have masterpieces.
Now that Mangal Pandey has been unanimously declared a debacle, I can take liberty and put forth my view that though Mangal Pandey is a great and famous historical figure, except for one incident- the revolt there wasn't much to be shown which was poorly compensated by curves, cleavages and a wailing (still gorgeous)Amisha. This could have been a great movie had it been on the revolt of 1857 itself with a greater emphasis on the role Mangal Pandey.
I know I am treating these topics only superficially conviniently picking arguments that go in favor and ignoring others but WTH, this post was meant to be just a supplement, which brings me to the original intent of the post.
Saw the trailer of Domino. This is the story of a female bounty hunter and is loosely based on the real life bounty hunter Domino Harvey. This might be interesting. What amuses me is that when I showed its trailer to one of my friends he said the lighting and colors are oddly similar to that in 'Man of Fire'. We imdbed and found out that indeed both of the are works of the director Tony Scott. I found this hard to believe that you could tell a movie's director only by the lighting in the trailor of the movie!
Another okayish trailer I saw was of Brokeback mountain by Ang Lee. Looks average but the reason why I might see it isn't Ang Lee or the theme of the movie (homosexuality) but Jake Gyllenhaal. This guy simply rocks (I think I am becoming Gyllenhaalik).
A history of violence is the latest movie by the 'King of Venereal Horror' David Cronenberg.Having seen only one of his movies, eXistenZ, I can only say that I think I will like movies by him. A decent article about him appeared in The Hindu this sunday.
In hindi cinema (actually Bengali) Antar mahal and Dosar by Rituparno Ghosh sounds promising. (I did like his 'Raincoat'.)
About the previous post,the grammtically incorrect title is the punchline of a joke which some of you might have heard and enjoyed in Spectrum (Group dance event in Rendezvous).
And suggestion for books are still invited.

I love you no…

2005-10-09T15:55:00.000+05:30

You are my first crush here.
So far, the only one.
I liked you the moment my eyes fell upon you. Your intoxicating eyes, your slow dreamy movements; and I thought that all these were just poetic gibberish.
I liked you when you were silent. When the first time I heard you speak, was almost a year after I discovered you.
I like you when you have frown on your face. And also the fact that you don’t laugh openly. A gentle smile is too much of a approval from you.
I liked when you were alone in the class, when you had no close friends; you were simply irresistible with that hurt look revealing your vulnerability.
I liked you even when you weren’t dusky; and were also a good ten kgs. heavier than me. (But then who isn’t?)
~When we admire a person we haven’t met (yet) we create a romantic image. But after few interactions, the image cracks and we fill the gaps with reality ~
[This, or something else similar in spirit is attributed to professor SG] I liked you till you started opening up, till you started talking to those scumbags; scumbags, seeing whom everyday made me proud that in the four years of my stay here, I won’t interact for once with them.
Then I noticed you weren’t dusky either.
Suddenly you were more ‘presentable’.
I didn’t want you to be sexy.
I liked you even lesser after our first ‘Rendezvous’. Your voice is sweet.
I didn’t want you to be sweet.
I wanted to run away ( screaming wildly, with my hands moving fiercely, rolling my eyes- that’s my kind of running away from you) when you first asked me how my day went.
I wish I did.
You pissed me when I saw you reading Hindu. I fantasized you to be a DT type.
Now I know you more. Still not much, but enough to call ‘this’ –a crush. ‘It’ smoulders in the depths of my heart providing warmth to my otherwise frost life. Now I can sit back and talk about you as if nothing ever happened. But then, nothing did happen. I can embarrass you by writing about you here in this so-obvious-if-you-know-me way. I hope you read this.
And one last thing. I lied.
You aren’t my first crush here.
Neither were you first.

Wardrobe Malfunction

2005-10-08T00:36:00.000+05:30

I am doing a semi-hukka course this semester in slot-B ( open category) and I have spoken more words in the tutes of this course than in all of my departmental lectures/tutes put together. In my last tutorial class, the professor declared after 15 minutes: Okay, today I would like one of you to conduct the discussion on [some inconsequential topic] like a professor whereas I will be sitting in the back of the class. So who wants to volunteer for this … Vibhor, why don’t you come forward ?
Me: No Sir
*there goes my best possible grade of this sem*
He took like an eternity to come out of this shock (not only was I nonchalant in doing so, I was even half smiling). He some how managed to find a ‘volunteer’ for the discussion. It went smoothly and I also took part as actively as anybody could. (I had to save my grade there, you see!)
The reason for my rejecting this offer was not my stage (?) fright as you might have guessed. It was –to put it most delicately- wardrobe malfunction.
In everyone’s life, there are times when you wake up late, hurry up to class and by the time half of the day is over you realize (or if your day is particularly screwed up, you are made aware of this in front of entire class) that zipper of your jeans is open. You blush, you laugh, they roar hyterically, you fumble (and curse yourself) but you get through it. But not me sir.
What would the world be, without more than my fair share of proofs of Murphy’s law.
In my case not only was the fly open; the slider wasn’t there at all!!Apparantly, it had broken in the morning only when I was trying to get into my pants as soon as possible. There was nothing to pull up and relieve me of the growing embarrassment. And I realized in the tute which we have in the afternoon. All I could do was hope that all those who met me that day didn’t notice it and the smile that R was giving me was only for my PJs.
After that I managed to somehow attend the remaining classes and came back to hostel as inconspicuously as I could.
Don't you laugh because next time it will be you.
Different strokes: Check out the trailers of Capote , Good night and good luck and Jarhead. The soundtrack in Jarhead’s trailer (Jesus walks by Kayne West) is awesome.
The budget for the hostel library has been passed and I have to decide the books to be purchased. (Didn’t I tell you I am library Secy ?) I request all you who graced this page with your presence to suggest some good books. Suggestions for Hindi books will be highly appreciated. Of course the final decision will be based on whether I want to read that (suggested) book or not.

Sph!nX

2005-09-30T00:22:00.001+05:30

Point(s) to remember:Your first quiz in Rendezvous, IITD is probably not the best place to wear a T-shirt with a large red 69 printed, right below your real name.
Also arriving 25 minutes late doesn’t help either.
I am done with my first quiz of the career(that too in Rendezvous) and was lucky that it went fairly well. Sphinx as they call it, is an open general quiz which this year was conducted by Anjulpa, Akshat and of course, yours truly. This should not be the basis for any assumptions on the quizzing skills of the quizmasters as we (Anjulpa and me) managed to scrape through the prelims and had to fight tooth and nail to avoid the last position.
We managed last II.
On the positive side, I now appreciate the efforts put in by the QMs and will defer from ridiculing the questions as long as they aren’t direclty Ctrl+Ced and Ctrl+Ved from quiznet and the likes. I expect the same from you.
This being my first experience, taught me a great deal. I found this highly challenging and it taught me –if not much- at least what all I don’t know in quizzing. I am looking forward to doing one more quiz (though not in the near future). Like anyone else, I had the usual doubts like whether my questions are too easy/difficult/vague,obscure/long /boring /shady. Now there is no doubt as I know some of them were.
Few more points:
Making good quiz is an extremely diffcult task. WTH, I would have had sympathy even for Porno-b Mukherjee for the efforts that he puts in his quizzes had there been any.
It takes at least one hour to make a question that you had ready in your diary for this very purpose since your first year.
Also that diary ends up before you even start with the round reversals.
There were two teams which created a little problem but apart from it and few mishaps (the projector stopped working halfway the quiz and we had to finish all our dry questions waiting for someone to fix it) things went fairly smoothly.*Mental note* I have to work on my presenting skills.
Two questions from the mains (along with all of the prelims) are taken in words or spirit from different blogs, notable among which is Aaman Lamba’s. I was thinking of giving links to few good quizzing blogs here but after the coming of Google blog search , feel like it is somewhat redundant.
Apologies to those who found the connects bit vague or arbit. I would have thought the same had I not made them myself.
I was close to lynching two representatives who kept suggesting repeatedly that I stop my quiz after asking only half of the questions (I spent close to 2 hours on each question mate !) because they were getting late for the fashion show where they expected the girl whom they invited in their socials to be waiting.
Some questions have been modified and for 3 audio questions, you will have to download the quiz from here. This zipped file has all the answers too.Also the ‘long’ question has 3 different question which are somehow linked with the other two questions. This is only a hint to help you .
So here we go...
Prelims (* marked questions were used in case of tie-breakers. Even after then, beastman had to be called in.)

1. How do we better know " Lateral epicondylitis" ?

*2. What does the mark “Rugmark” or “Kaleen” on carpet signify?
>
3. What unusual connection is there between the new film "Cinderella Man" and film "Mystic Pizza"?

*4. To which company did the shipment destroyed by American colonists during the Boston tea party in 1773 belong ?

5.Which company actually built the bridge on the River Kwai?

Mains : (Explanations of few are given in the end)
**1.Identify the artist of this painting, whose paintings recently outsold Andy Warhol and Renoir ?

2. "I'm here representing _____X_____. Unfortunately, he cannot speak English," he said. "We're very excited he is being honored in America."
This was said by __X__'s producer when ___X___ recieved a star on the Hollywood Walk of fame; hours before the premiere of his latest movie.
Identify X

**3. 10. Jane Austen, in 1798 in 'Northanger Abbey', said about her protagonist Catherine. " It was not wonderful that Catherine, by nature had nothing heroic about her and should prefer cricket, _____X_____, riding on horseback and running about the country at the age of 14".
This was the first recorded use of a word which is now very common.Identify X ?

4. connect Star Wars movies and AT&T ?

5. Connect

6.
Born: 12 December 1919, Kolhapur, Maharashtra
Major Teams: Holkar, Rajasthan, Railways, Maharashtra, Baroda.
His career stretched from the late thirties to the early sixties and he played for as many as six teams. An aggregate of 3687 runs at a healthy average of 56.72 with 11 centuries marks him out as one of the outstanding batsmen in the Ranji Trophy. He never represented India in an official Test and played for the country only once - against the first Commonwealth team in 1949-50.
The story of his cricketing career revolves around two memorable days in December, 1948 when he scored what is still the highest score by an Indian in first-class cricket. Kathiawar were all out for 238 and ______X_____, who came in at No. 3, and KV Bhandarkar added 455 runs for the second wicket which stood as an Indian first-class record for 43 years. At 443, he was within striking distance of Don Bradman's then world record score of 452, made 19 years earlier when the Kathiawar captain, Thakore Sahib of Rajkot, decided to concede the match with the Maharashtra score 826 for 4. The match thus came to an abrupt end and ____X____ was deprived of a famous world record.
On March 12 2004 ____X____ and Chandu Borde were felicitated jointly by the Cricket Club of India and Maharashtra Cricket Association at the PYC Gymkhana, Pune.The then President of CCI , Raj Singh Dungarpur, said on the ocassion
"____X___ was the best Indian batsman who was not lucky to play a Test match.''

Long 1
1.Connect:

2. connect
[pic 2a] text 2b
[The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of ____X____ of York, Mariner: who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver'd by Pirates. Written by Himself. ]
and 3 (a song 'yeh bandhe' by Indian Ocean)with the text
[ ___X___ was the crackdown by the Maldivian National Security Service (NSS) on a peaceful protest in the capital city of Maldives, Malé. This unplanned and unorganized demonstration was the largest such protest in the country's history. Beginning on the evening of August 12, 2004, the demonstration grew and continued until it was forcefully ended on the afternoon next day. Protesters initially demanding the freeing of the pro-reformists arrested on the afternoon of August 12, 2004. As the protest continued to grow, people demanded the resignation of president Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, who had been in power since 1978.]

3.connect [poster of the movie Vaanprastham from que1 of Long 1] with

Round Reversal:

11. On August 23, 1973, Jan Erik "Janne" Olsson, on leave from prison, walked into Kreditbanken. Olsson opened fire on two policeman, injuring one policeman. The other was ordered to sit in a chair and "sing something". Olsson then took 4 people as hostages. He demanded his friend Clark Olofsson to be brought there, along with money, two guns, bullet-proof vests, helmets and a fast car.Olofsson was brought in established a communication link with the police negotiators.The robbers were permitted to have a car to escape but were not allowed to take the hostages with them, if they were to leave.On August 26, the police drilled a hole into the main vault from the apartment above. On August 28 the gas was used and after half an hour the robbers gave up. Nobody was injured physically.
Both Olsson and Olofsson were charged and sentenced to extended imprisonment for the robbery. However Olsson claimed he didn't help Olofsson and was only trying to keepthe situation calm, and at the court of appeals he was freed of any charges. Olsson was sentenced to 10 years of prison a. He got many admiring letters from women who found him attractive. He later got engaged to one of them, Clark Olofsson has repeatedly committed armed robberies and acts of violence, and He was finally released from prison in 1991, but in 1999 he was arrested again and was sentenced to another 14 years of prison.
This incident is famous for something else. What for ?

12. Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me.

What is this known as ?

13.
On July 11, 2005, the law firm of Daniel & Gladys, who represent ___X____ Indian subsidiary, sent a letter to Mr. ___Y____ threatening him with serious legal actions unless the billboard was replaced 'unconditionally and immediately'. ___X____ would seek Indian Rupees 2 million (US$ 45,000) for "incalculable damage to the goodwill and reputation" of _____X____, and also sought an 'unconditional apology in writing'.
___Y___, winner of the 2005 Cannes Silver Lion responded " I am not going to tender an apology because I have not done anything against ____X_____....... It is really stupid of them to send a legal notice to me.....I have to fight for my rights as an artist. ...... If they had not started this legal notice business, he said, nobody would have noticed the picture at all."

14. (hint)Connect:

1996-1997 Nayan Mongia
1997-1998 Sachin Tendulkar
1999-2000 Sachin Tendulkar
2000-2001 Harbhajan Singh
2003-2004 Rahul Dravid
2004-2005 Damien Martyn
&
"It was ___X___
The real master
Just like a wall
We couldn't get ___X___ at all, not at all
You know the ____Y____ couldn't out
___X___ at all."
These are the lyrics of a famous Calypso song, composed by Lord Relator, in tribute to ____X____ stunning debut against the _____Y_____

Long 3
1 connect

2 Who fired the first arrow to signal the beginning of the war?

4. connect

Remarks/Explanation:
Written:
3. Amc theatre offered money back guarantee to dissatisfied customers who didn’t enjoyed the movie. Last time this was done, was in the case of mystic pizza.
4. It is British East India Company. I checked it here. a_u I think you were insisting that it is Dutch East India Company. Sorry if I am wrong in remembering.
Mains:
4.Internally, the logo of AT&T, due to its visual similarity, is known as the Death Star. When political cartoon and comic strip creators learned of this, many references to AT&T used the Death Star analogy.
5. [Pic 1]The Ghost of Vermeer of Delft Which Can Be Used As a Table (1934) is a painting by Spanish surrealist Salvador Dalí. The title refers to the Dutch renaissance painter Johannes Vermeer.
[Pic 2]The Girl with a Pearl Earring is one of Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer's masterworks and as the name implies, uses a pearl earring for a focal point. The painting is currently housed at The Mauritshuis in The Hague. It is sometimes referred to as "the Mona Lisa of the North"
[Pic 3]The 2003 United Kingdom/Luxembourg drama film Girl with a Pearl Earring was directed by Peter Webber. The screenplay was adapted from the novel by screenwriter Olivia Hetreed. The film stars Scarlett Johansson, Colin Firth, Tom Wilkinson and Cillian Murphy.
Griet (Johansson) is a peasant woman who is forced to work as a maid in the home of the painter Vermeer (Firth). She eventually becomes the model for what becomes one of his most famous works.
Long 1.1. He has given music in all these movies and has also acted in Saaz and Black Friday.
Long 1.2. [pic 1] Also known as black friday.[pic 2]Black movie inspired from miracle worker.Friday from man friday (Robinson Crusoe).The song is of the movie the 'Black Friday'.
Long 1 3. [The shady one]Ram Gopal Varma / The Factory
The Factory was Warhol's studio from 1963 to 1969.
The Factory became a meeting place of artists and would-be artists such as Mick Jagger, Lou Reed, and Truman Capote.
Mohan lal acted in the Company directed by RGV.Ram Gopal Verma produces films at a speed that is unfamiliar to Indian Film Industry and named his office The Factory.
11. The Stockholm syndrome is a psychological response of a hostage, The main symptom of the syndrome is the seemingly paradoxical loyalty to the more powerful person in spite of the danger (or at least risk) that this loyalty puts the individual in.
The term "Stockholm syndrome" was coined by criminologist Nils Bejerot.
14. X: Sunil Gavaskar Y: West Indies
These are the 'Player of the series' of Gavaskar-Border Trophy
long 3.1."Mahabharat" (1988) TV Series
Puneet Essar Duryodhana (The still is from coolie)
Nitish bhardwaj Krishna
Raj babbar Bharat
Mukesh Khanna Bheeshma
Paintal(the one with shades) Shikhandi (Brother of Gufi Paintal of Shakuni fame)
long 3.3[Pic 1]Shri Krishna and Balram going to sea to rescue Sandipani's son from Paanchjanya.
[Pic 2] Observer is the sister publication of Paanchjanya
[Pic 3Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee presenting "Paanchjanya Nachiketa Award" to veteran journalist Bhagwati Kumar Sharma for his contribution in the field of journalism.

After this obscenely long entry , I declare the post open for praises...

Name game

2005-08-01T14:32:00.000+05:30

If you were given the chance to form a rock band what would you name it ?
My favourite name -
STICK INSECTs (wasn't this obviuos?)
other interesting names...
Rock bottom(s) / Bottom's rock / Botttoms up ;)
Mama's black magic garden / black mama's magic garden
Rockeating grasshoppers
backdoor bastards
pimp faction (who said it has to be original ?)
oysters

Of chai and sandstorm

2005-07-23T01:28:00.000+05:30

This post started as a comment on this blog but as it became too long, I decided to post it here.
Few days back I saw Bawandar. This won’t be a review of the movie but just my general observations. After seeing it, I cudn’t help wondering how a movie with quite promising theme, decent starting and brilliant acting can be turned into a disappointing mediocre film. This movie cud have been the next good thing to our bollywood for all I knew. To those who might be disagreeing from me, I have but two things to say. I don’t mean that this movie is bad or anything, it’s just that I was utterly disappointed to see such an effort go to waste. And secondly, if u thing this really was the big thing, I think all the publicity and hype was about the theme of the movie rather than the movie itself.
Sometime we are expected to like a movie that is patriotic or carries a strong or bold message, however rubbish the movie may be. I am sorry but whatever the theme might be if I don’t like a movie then i really can’t help it. This movie being one of them.
The story can be summed up generously in one line as ‘a village woman seeking justice for her rape by upper class villagers’. I found the approach of following the story from the third party perspective( an NRI played by Rahul Khanna) novel as in the real case all those accused were declared not guilty by the court making the story for this movie even thinner and less dramatic. Acting was brilliant, especially Raghubir Yadav and Nadita Das in that order. But still it failed to leave a mark. Well at least on me. I just couldn’t understand why I didn’t like it.
Unexpectedly, the answer came after I saw another movie – SARKAR. From where I stood, both movies were quite comparable. Both had good star cast in their own domain (here I am a little biased for Bawandar as no one can equal Amitji). What Bawandar lacked in story, it made up in theme. But what made Bawandar an average and Sarkar what it is, is RGV or to be more precise subtlety. This notion is quite surprising since bollywood is known for it exuberant dance and music items, sappy and overtly dramatic sequences -this is no way meaning to be disrespectful. But the essence of a good movie is always subtlety ( may be with few other qualities that I might have overlooked). Bawandar was stuffed with too much garbage info which made it unfocussed and boring. May be this was done to make it factually correct and more real but it only spoilt the movie for me. RGV on the other hand has exploited subtlety to the extend of exhaustion. This being his trademark/ style, in sarkar it disappointed a few who accuses him of using the same techniques in every movie. As far as I am concerned, I agree with Shalabh that in few scenes he leaves us hungry for scenes filled with raw emotions, confrontations and all which sadly is never shown. Another thing I liked in few scenes was the background score by Amar Mohile. May be it was the silence so typical of RGV’s movies which brought BG score in prominence but whatever it be, it was good to see Indian cinema giving BG music its rightful attention. Though in some scenes it was jarring and clashed with the mood of the scene.(scene in mind : starting of the scene where Abhishek tells his father in jail that he won’t quit).
Seeing Abhishek here after Yuva (a good movie btw) Dhoom and Bunty aur Babli (I know nothing much was to be done in last two…) my faith in his acting was reinforced. For Amitji I can only say that I can’t imagine any one else donning this role.
Katrina: Ramu knows all his cards well and also how to and much to use them.
Kay Kay: Saw him, loved him. After Hazaron Khwahishen Aisi (which u shud watch; it takes time but builds up nicely) and this, I am waiting for Paanch. I just hope that he isn’t some psycho always laughing maniacally as the trailer portrays him to be.
Lastly RGV : All I know is this man deserves a hit for everything he has been doing all this years.
On an unrelated note…
Movies waiting for:
The Rising
V for Vendetta

Movies interested in:
Matrubhoomi
Paanch
A really nice song :Adaa from Yahaan. I loved it the moment I heard it. The next time I saw I came to know what should have been obvious :lyrics by Gulzar. This song has the fragrance of songs of Maachis and Saathiya.
Waiting for : Tomb Raider legend.
Thanx to: Amon for the e-version of Half Blood Prince (HBP) and to Rajat Sahni (inhas_tajar on yahoo) for sending it to me.

No full stops in blogosphere…

2005-07-07T12:47:00.000+05:30

To whoever it may concern – I haven’t cut them yet.
So I have been away for long and have obviously missed the chance of being a witness of some of the events that the venerable Lu-Tze ‘the sweeper’ suspects to be the cause of the imbalance in TIME that the auditors tried to sort out by ordering Jeremy Clockson to make the clock that would stop the time.( In case u haven’t guessed yet, I just finished my first novel by Terry Pratchett – ‘Thief of Time’ (of the discworld series) and it is as good as they come.)
Looks like too many upheavals have happened in blogosphere. Many blogs that I cared about died in recent time or have gone into dormancy and what is worse is that many of these ends ( suicide ?) are unexpected and unexplained. I wonder what has happened that is causing blogs to die like lemmings?
IITD team has lost in the quarter finals of robocon which -I have been told- was a result of an embarrassingly silly mistake that I am asked not to make public here. On the project front, I still have to work how I am going to explain my unaccounted absence of over a fortnight to the professor and how we gathered the courage to turn up again –i.e. if ever we did- and ask for the permission to carry it on. (Finish it? are u outta ur mind ?)
All this and especially alarming death rate of blogs brought me to this question- should I also reconsidercontinuing this blog? Have I achieved what I tried to achieve from this blog ? how much of it is really for me ? And after not-so-much thought I decided naaaaaaaah… this is too soon . My impressionability showed me that I am too young to die (here). Also if I end this blogs the reason has to be damn unavoidable as I am sure has been the case with fellow bloggers. Moreover I am yet to try many interesting things like poems, limericks, short stories, blographies ( still have to work out what that might mean…) and to write a really funny and/or senti post without brackets (within brackets) full stops… clichés, self contradicting ideas and warped sentence construction on my dream topic – why it is anti-feminist to consider bhanu_arora’s_bedroom_fan higher than say, bhanu_arora’S_EXHAUST_fan or bhanu_arora’s_exhaust_fan. And oh yes… I still have to open an amonymous blog. Long story short – people who were hoping that even I might be tempted to end this blog, I have only two things to say-
a) Go hopping
b) In case u haven’t…
In the second scroll of Wen the Eternally surprised a story is written concerning one day when the apprentice Clodpool in a rebellious mood approached Wen and spake thusly-
‘master what is the difference between a humanistic, monastic system of belief in which wisdom is found by means of an apparently nonsensical system of questions and answers and a lot of mystic gibberish made up on the spur of the moment?’
Wen considered this for some time, and at last said : ‘ A fish!’
And Clodpool went away, satisfied.
- bhanu_arora’s_conufsed_fan

Gunning Fog Index

2005-06-10T06:01:00.000+05:30

Often while surfing we find text/blogs that we think is nicely (or poorly) written. Here, I am not talking about the content or style but the readability of the web page. Searching in this context, I found that there are proper tests and scales to grade the readability of written texts/web pages. In this post I am giving details of two such tests/scales and also their results for few blogs that I read. In case u want it for ur webpage, u can take this test here.
The Gunning Fog Index is a readability test designed to show how easy or difficult a text is to read. It uses the following formula:
Reading Level (Grade) = (Average No. of words in sentences / Percentage of words of three or more syllables) x 0.4
The resulting number is your Gunning Fog Index.
The Gunning Fog Index gives the number of years of education that your reader hypothetically needs to understand the paragraph or text. The Gunning Fog Index formula implies that short sentences written in plain English achieve a better score than long sentences written in complicated language.
Typical Fog Index Scores
Fog Index Resources
6 ************* TV guides, The Bible, Mark Twain
8 ************* Reader's Digest
8 - 10 ******** Most popular novels
10 ************ Time, Newsweek
11 ************ Wall Street Journal
14 ************ The Times, The Guardian
15 – 20 ******* Academic papers
Over 20 ******* Only government sites can get away with this
Over 30 ******* The government is covering something up
But this technique has its own flaws. Its sole criterion being number of syllables in a word which – I feel- not necessarily translates to the word being difficult. Also I was doubtful of the results for Hindi blogs (written in Roman alphabets )which I feel are least readable but these test simply overlook this point (e.g. blogs like envisager’s ). Anyway, I feel a reader is the best judge of readability of a blog.

The Flesch-Kincaid Readability Tests are readability tests designed to indicate how difficult a reading passage is to understand.

One of the tests is known as the "Flesch-Kincaid Reading Ease" test. It scores passages on a scale of 0-100. Higher scores indicate material that is easier to read; lower numbers mark harder-to-read passages. The formula for the Reading Ease Test is:
206.835 - (1.015 x avg. words per sentence) - (84.6 x avg. syllables per word)

As a rule of thumb, scores of 90-100 are considered easily understandable by an average 5th grader. 8th and 9th grade students could easily understand passages with a score of 60-70, and passage with results of 0-30 are best understood by college graduates. Reader's Digest magazine has a readability index of about 65, Time magazine scores about 52, and the Harvard Law Review has a general readability score in the low 30s.(wiki)
Some of the results are quite unexpected. Like i expected Shalabh's GFI to be high but not to be the highest(which I expected from BoFi, Arnav and Shamanth in any order). Also my GFI is higher than RT's which I had expected to be near Shalabh's. Also results of guys like Noam Chomsky, Zach Braff and Chetan Bhagat are surprisingly lower and are given for comparison only.

Chetan Bhagat

Zach Braff

Pradyot Ghate

Swati Nakra

Anjul

RT

Taru

BoFi

Noam Chomsky

my blog

Arnav Sinha

Abhinav

Shamanth

Shalabh

Linking Post : Post secret

2005-06-03T23:23:00.000+05:30

After threatened with ‘damnation to hell’ if I didn’t blog within two days, I had to shake off all the boredom and laziness that had prevented me from blogging for some time. I had two posts half done but lacked the enthu to complete them and since my compu had to be formatted, destroying even the tiddly bits that I hoped to publish in near future, I simply resigned myself to blog-hopping, surfing aimlessly and my favorite past-time –sleeping. But even this couldn’t go for long and I was simply bored, bored of everything. And to think of it – Two whole month are ahead !
In these 20 days or so I saw few movies, read some books (see sidebar ) but most of the good books in the library were either lost or issued (can see that I took a Shobha De’s work(?) ). Also the fact that most of my friends had gone home and I - in spite of spending a fortnight here- didn’t even meet the prof once for the project, didn’t help.
So here I am back with nothing in particular to write about, but to share few links and stuffs that I had always wanted to tell u about. First of them is this. This is an interesting site with numerous articles (and links ) on various aspects on IIT –including both acads as well as the hostel life. It tries to demystify the enigma surrounding the IITs and IITians. Some of the views (and the case studies if I may call them so…) are quite contrary to general belief but anyway, views they are and ‘luv them or hate them, u can’t ignore them’. They really make u wonder whether everything they say about IIT is right? Were IITians really supposed to be the way they are ?
Have been doing a lot of blog-hopping ,especially of tech blogs. I have included a link to one of them along with the link to Chetan Bhagat’s blog. For the uninitiated, he wrote a hilarious book called Five Point Someone on the (mis)adventures of three students of IIT Delhi.
Those of u who like Hindi comics might like this blog. I didn’t read Phantom, Mandrake, Bahadur so frankly, didn’t find this much useful but u know, just in case…
There are no secrets better kept than the secrets that everybody guesses.( Methinks it was G.B. Shaw who said this)
I intended to includ enough links to keep u busy till my next post but alas … lost everything thanx to formatting…
So I am left with this last link. This is the most powerful, honest, moving and touching blog that I ever came across (so keep your hankies ready ;) )
I think we all want to share our secrets but don’t do so because we are afraid of being judged. I think that this post could be a medium to vent those secrets out. So I ask you if u want to share something …anything, then do so in the comments.
Only one condition : Anonymity (for ‘Post secret’ comments) is a must.

What does the scanner see…

2005-05-16T19:35:00.001+05:30

Recently saw the trailer of ‘A Scanner Darkly’ and man it is awesome…you can take it from “http://mp3content01.bcst.yahoo.com/bmfroot03/BMFShare03/yahooent/11/13012066.mov” or can see it here. This is based on Philip K.Dick’s much acclaimed novel ‘A Scanner Darkly’ which is considered to be his best novel.
Since 1982, when Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (based on Dick's novel, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?) made its debut, seven feature films based on Dick's fiction have appeared, the other six being Total Recall, The Minority Report, Screamers, Impostor, the French film Confessions d'un Barjo (based on Dick's mainstream novel, Confessions of a Crap Artist(sounds like something straight out of ANJUL’s blog) and Paycheck.
Now what makes this movie really interesting (apart from the story) is that like a graphic novel coming to life, "A Scanner Darkly" will use live action photography overlaid with an advanced animation process (interpolated rotoscoping(whatever that means…)) to create a haunting, highly stylized vision of the future. ASD will be directed by Richard Linklater of Dazed and Confused, Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Slacker fame. And yes I know that he did that School of rock thing too but I believe he is best suited for this project. About the cast this has Keanu Reeves (another Matrix?), Robert Downey Jr. ( this will be interesting as I think he had drugs problems in the past…), Winona Ryder ( isn’t she something… )and Woody Harrelson. This live action technology, first employed in "Waking Life," has evolved to produce even more emotional impact and detail. Waking Life was filmed in live action and then rendered into animation using a computer. Still not getting it ? see these pics…

This is what I am talking about…
PS: does anyone has this novel or the CD of ‘Waking life’? A good book and/or CD promised in exchange…

Tomatowy

2005-05-13T15:16:00.000+05:30

Thickly accented,
An approximation of purple-
And all that jazz...

Freedom at 1500 hrs...

2005-05-11T18:52:00.000+05:30

In this season of 'A LITTLE BIT OF ME...'

2005-05-11T18:40:00.000+05:30

Freedom...(teaser)
What I will do this summer
Arbit post
Name game
Ease (Gunning Fog Index)
Poem on stars (duh...)
3 of a kind
Post secret (not in this order)
so stay tuned for more...

Just four questions...

2005-04-23T05:07:00.001+05:30

Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, "I think I'll Squeeze these pink dangly things here, and drink whatever comes out?"
Who was the first person to say, "See that chicken there... I'm gonna eat the next thing that comes outta it's bum."
Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They're both dogs anyway...
Why do people point to their wrist when asking for the time, but don't point to their bum when they ask where the bathroom is?

The 'TRUE MAN' Show...

2005-04-23T04:51:00.000+05:30

I have always hated reality shows. Here is one more reason why...

Nasubi

FRUSTRINITY

2005-04-16T22:53:00.000+05:30

One night after the dinner my friend asked me for a walk. Having nothing to do, I agreed. Now he is a guy who doesn’t give a damn about anything: he has a high GPA, is active in sports, cultural activities etc. in short fit to be called a stud here...
But to my surprise, that night even he was frustrated. He was facing problems in his love life, was worried that his GPA isn’t good enough (gimme a break- his GPA is more than the total of SGPAs of many guys here) and stuffs like that.
So we went for a walk. We went to SAC, then INSTI and finally to Nescafe. We lied on the ground; talking, dreaming… doing weird things. Then he called his friend to join us.
Now from her we expected some words of wisdom, counsel even ear bashing would have done the trick… but what did we get…
It turned out that she has had a particularly bad day with the guys of her group, (there aren’t many girls in her group) who made her the butt of some lousy, cheap jokes. And there were the three of us, entangled in the web of our own life, surrounded by our personalized problems goofing around.
After walking something like 4500 light years and gulping down several gallons of ice-tea, I and my friend returned to our hostel.
I am not sure if wandering like that helped any one of us…but I did realized that everyone in IIT, for that matter everywhere has his/her own share of problems which he/her has to tackle on his/he own.
I realized –once again- what a mess I had made of my life. Eons have passed since I have attended morning lectures….my highest priority now is completion of my degree in four years.
But what I truly regret is that two years have passed; technically I am half an engineer now. But do I really know anything about my field… My interest in batti has died down. I am wandering without any aim or direction. I just wanna spent the next two years here satisfied with myself, my performance. As my friend KK once said- “……main kaash kahna nahi chahata…..”
While writing this, I remembered two quotes-
“…..they preferred a fuller life to academic glory….” –the IITians (Sandipan Deb)
“…at IIT there is always someone better than you…”
Enough of cribbing, thought of this question in a tute class (ya it can do wonders to you)
Is there anything such as ‘virtual unreality’?

GUESS I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE...

2005-04-16T22:46:00.000+05:30

*******************************i have made few changes to this post partly because i feel that i can't pass judgements and also as i mentioned in my comment i don't know the other side of the story, but most importantly everyone involved in this post is my friend and i wanted this post to show not my anger for any particular fellow but to highlight that everyone has his own problems however calm or strong externally he might appear on the outside. I realised that the way i had written this post conveys something that i didn't expect it to be... what the heck... here is the post...
********************************This event happened before my term paper fiasco and this intrigued me so much that I wanted this to be my first post –this meant that I had to postpone or cancel other posts that I had in mind and which now, may no longer see the light of the day….
I make acquaintances easily. I talk to people and try to be friendly –or so do I think- but I don’t take my friendship to the next level immediately … I need time. But once I stick with someone then I stick fast with them. Then I share my feelings, my frustrations, my emotions , everything with them….I value my freinds very much...
Now what exactly happened was that one of my friends here had to give a presentation in some course. He has a very high GPA, but coz of his rural background and having vernacular medium of instruction, is not so fluent in English as his partner. Now his partner didn’t help him much with the presentation until the last hour and even hurt his pride on few ocassions (beware i am being entirely subjective here...). My friend was all frustrated and when I talked to him I cud see that his eyes were all moist...
Look… a guy like me can openly wage a war against the oppressive admin, get frustrated, sulk , curse the system, ramble here but he can’t.
He is the topper.I feel this was the first time that he was playing second fiddle to someone.Also the fact that this was the only subject where he wasn't faring up to the self-imposed standards, didn't help much.I found that after realising this,the bonding between us became more strong. This was the first time I was seeing the GODS, STUDS facing similar problems as any other student does. Looks like I am not the only one...

(A tRiLOgY in three parts…)

2005-04-16T18:07:00.000+05:30

TERM PAPER=TEMP. RAPER
GUESS I AM NOT THE ONLY ONE...
FRUSSTRINITY
TERM PAPER=TEMP. RAPERI am going through one of the most depressing phases of my life…I am midway through my degree, have been dejected many times, but this ‘last month of the IV semester’ is being simply unbearable. All this was deep down somewhere, waiting for a vent…and what could be a better place than here, so here I am….
The proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back was the term paper -rather its presentation- that we made for the course Art-n-Tech. Well, we made a decent – at least that’s what we believe- presentation on the topic ‘Morality and Art’, had some nice examples and had few boring theories of Plato, Aristotle and Kant etc. As ours was the first presentation we expected beginner’s luck and cooperation from our group mates (which we did get… except for one question in the end –“….er.. what do u mean by morality?” trust me u don’t even wanna think what I answered to that) that we may pass unnoticed inconspicuously . God (?), was this too much to ask for?
May be it was, coz we forgot to take the key of the Lecture Theatre (ya, they are called so here…) so we had to shift to humanities committee room where the comp didn’t work so after half an hour was over, we were forced to give the presentation without slides or their printouts …
And they say there never was a show like that…We (I and my partner) mumbled, halted, babbled, stuttered, stammered, blanked out, were inaudible, incoherent, in short- were CONUFSED… We kept glancing at the watch which seemed to have stopped; saw our batch mates going through excruciating boredom – of course, with the exception of few lucky ones who fell into slumber. It was funny that I wanted my group to ask any question howsoever arbit, sarcastic or intellectually challenging, for even I couldn’t take my voice any longer...
And then it was over …oh boy! was there ever a look of relief on anybody’s face, like that before…
This was the second time that I had ruined a presentation (believe me experience counts). On that occasion too the OHP wasn’t working…
What was interesting that standing there, in the back of my mind this thought was popping up…man I ought to blog about this…
PS: to my group –thnx for enduring it without muttering a single word… and best of luck with ur presentation may it be less eh… eventful.

BLOG WE MUST !

2005-03-21T04:45:00.000+05:30

Ok, so its 4:30 am now; I have two minors today (Art-tech & communication) for which I have prepared nothing ( hey, what else do u expect from me ?); my batchmates have occupied every sq. inch on MY bed ; I am about to have the first night out (without sleeping a wink) of my life in iitd; it only makes sense if to add to this, I BLOG….
And sir blog I will. So what if the theme(?) of this blog is-
Movies To Watch in 2005Most Anticipated Movies of 2005 (in order of release dates)(*** means I am dying to c them …)

Kung Fu Hustle (US Release Date: 18 March 2005)
Set amid the chaos of pre-revolutionary China, small time thief Sing aspires to be one of the sophisticated and ruthless Axe Gang whose underworld activities overshadow the city.

Oldboy (US Release Date: 25 March 2005)
This movie won the Grand Prize at the Cannes 2004 Film Awards. OH Dae-su, who spent 15 years in a private prison without any explanation as to why he was kidnapped and jailed, seeks revenge on those who brought him down. The movie has high production value, good fight choreography, great story, beautiful cinematography, effective directing and overall an amazing cast

*****SIN CITY (US Release Date : April 1, 2005)
Robert Rodriguez (“Spy Kids,” “Once Upon a Time in Mexico”) and comic book icon Frank Miller co-direct SIN CITY, based on the series of graphic novels created, written, and illustrated by Miller. SIN CITY, in theaters on April 1, 2005, is infested with criminals, crooked cops and sexy dames, some searching for vengeance, some for redemption and others, both. The film incorporates storylines from three of Miller's graphic novels including 'Sin City,' which launched the long-running, critically acclaimed series, as well as 'That Yellow Bastard' and 'The Big Fat Kill.

*****The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (US Release Date: 6 May 2005)
Mere seconds before the Earth is to be demolished by an alien construction crew, journeyman Arthur Dent is swept off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher penning a new edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

*****Revenge of the Sith (US Release Date: 19 May 2005)
AKA Star Wars: Episode III. After three long years of relentless fighting, the Clone Wars are nearly at an end. The Jedi Council dispatches Obi-Wan Kenobi to bring General Grievous, the deadly leader of the Separatist droid army, to justice. Meanwhile, back on Coruscant, Chancellor Palpatine has grown in power. His sweeping political changes transform the war-weary Republic into the mighty Galactic Empire. To his closest ally, Anakin Skywalker, he reveals the true nature of power and the promised secrets of the Force in an attempt to lure him to the dark side.

*****Batman Begins (US Release Date: 17 June 2005)
Explores the origins of the Batman legend and the Dark Knight's emergence as a force for good in Gotham. Christian Bale stars as Bruce Wayne/Batman; Michael Caine as his trusted butler Alfred; Gary Oldman as Lieutenant James Gordon, a detective on the Gotham police force; Katie Holmes as a childhood friend of Wayne's; Liam Neeson as Wayne's mentor, Henri Ducard; Ken Watanabe as the villainous Ra's Al Ghul; and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox, a former board member and sidelined employee of Wayne Enterprises.

*****War of the Worlds (US Release Date: 29 June 2005)
Next summer, the earth goes to war. From Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures comes the motion picture event of the year: Steven Spielberg’s War of the Worlds, starring international superstar Tom Cruise. A contemporary retelling of H.G. Wells’s seminal classic, the sci-fi adventure thriller reveals the extraordinary battle for the future of humankind through the eyes of one American family fighting to survive it.

Fantastic Four (US Release Date: 5 July 2005)
A group of astronauts gain superpowers after a cosmic radiation exposure and must use them to oppose the plans of their enemy, Doctor Victor Von Doom.

**The Goblet of Fire (US Release Date: 18 November 2005)
AKA Harry Potter 4. The pivotal fourth novel in the seven-part tale of Harry Potter's training as a wizard and his coming of age. Harry wants to get away from the pernicious Dursleys and go to the International Quidditch Cup with Hermione, Ron, and the Weasleys. He wants to dream about Cho Chang, his crush (and maybe do more than dream). He wants to find out about the mysterious event that's supposed to take place at Hogwarts this year, an event involving two other rival schools of magic, and a competition that hasn't happened for a hundred years. He wants to be a normal, fourteen-year-old wizard. Unfortunately for Harry Potter, he's not normal, even by wizarding standards. And in his case, different can be deadly.

**The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe (US Release Date: 9 December 2005)
AKA The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe. Lewis' timeless adventure follows the exploits of the four Pevensie siblings - Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter - in World War II England who enter the world of Narnia through a magical wardrobe while playing a game of 'hide-and-seek' in the rural country home of an elderly professor.

***King Kong (US Release Date: 14 December 2005)
Jackson will employ the latest motion picture technology to cinematically portray the timeless tale of the beast and his beauty. Expanding on the chapters of the tale that take place in the mysterious and dangerous jungles of Skull Island, Jackson's Kong promises to be a unique and breathtaking creation. As with his Lord of the Rings trilogy, Jackson will shoot King Kong on location in his native New Zealand. Visual effects will be again accomplished by New Zealand-based companies Weta Digital and Weta Workshop, recipients of multiple Academy Awards® for their collective work on The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Visual effects and miniatures will supplement practical locations in creating primordial jungles and '30s-period America.
Apart from these, there are few other movies too (for which I was too tired to google…) that are in my wish-list :

***The Ring-2( for the chills), and ***Kingdom of Heaven( for Ridley scott), **Mr. and Mrs. Smith (the movie that caused Aniston-Pitt break-up !), *** Cinderella Man ( for Crowe and Rene ) and etc, etc and etc…

Well... what about Bollywood ?

******* The Rising : Mangal Pandey
( for it is the next big thing on this side of the EARTH (after the introduction of Cable TV on LAN in Vindy))
Looks long enough… k then cya, gnite ! GTG duty calls….

My share of fifteen minutes

2005-03-11T19:05:00.000+05:30

May be it was the frustration of the analog lab, may be it was the tutes and the minors marks or may me it was simply the frustapa that engulfs my life in general :that made me recall any happy moment that I had after coming to IIT.
To my relief I did find some moments/yaadein but that’s not what this post is about.
Then I asked myself, do I have even 15 minutes of peace daily?
15 minutes to let myself go in a day 'jammed' with 8 hours of class/tutes prac( urgh…)- 3-4 hours of which are slashed more often than not due to my nocturnal habits- making my day even more miserable. I was thinking about this; discussing this with Govind while returning from Insti when it hit me-This is it! These are the best 15 minutes of my otherwise excruciating day.
So my friends! This post is about those Preeciousssss… 15 minutes.
To begin with these may not be exactly 15 minutes and are not always so cheering. Also don’t expect that I do something deviant–that some u always suspected me of- which makes it the time of my day. There is hardly an iota’s difference in the way we spent our time but more important is the fact that rest of my day is much more banal and so these 15 minutes are more than welcome to me.
So what do I do after coming out from insti? First thing that happens to me is that I am overwhelmed by the sense of freedom -Who cares if this will only be for few hours?
I see hues and azure of the sky with the big ball of fire finally taking a break; birds chirruping; students having their time in hockey/footy fields; guys jogging; children (of profs ) returning for tennis court. I exchange greetings with acquaintances ; see pretty faces oblivious of their surroundings- coming my way ( for this I deliberately tread the wrong side of the road); I smell the dampness of the air due to sprinklers ; pluck some leaves; stop for a juice or idli ( or Govind’s patties); having denied the paranthas of sassi ( SASSI JAISA KOI NAHI !!)
I talk to Govind –mostly nonsense – or simply walk leisurely savoring every second. Or we come across any hostel/batch mate who then becomes the butt of our jokes.
Not much to say about what we do after coming to hostel as we see notices or read newspapers and then retire to into our respective shelters to face the other half of the day.
Now as the summers are approaching I am feeling that these 15 mins will not be so pleasant no more, but heck…why to worry about it now?
After all this, I call it a day.

This house believes in divine intervention

2005-03-02T02:11:00.000+05:30

"It ain't over 'til it's over' and now ...it’s finally over .EDLC comp events are over now and to sum up the results-
A we came second OR
B we lost the first place (hey I m also getting this A, B or format)
Now the point is my approach is swinging between this two extremes. Also not helping the fact that in one of my first posters I used the line-'winning is not everything, it is the only thing' :(
We came so close to joint first that I could literally see myself coaxing KGP into letting me have the trophy first.
But there is many a slip between the cup and the lip.
We had ‘the last supper’ today. The non comp was okayish. I felt lot more close to KC and other reps than ever before. We will be having a couple of treats more (KC actually wants to have a picnic sort of… )
Today Swati said something that is lingering in the back of my mind ever since I came back from KL. She said it would be pretty weird that we won’t be having no more events ( or something to that sense). I’m not going for any post (can put this on the records) .So next sem (for that matter next two years) would be very different experience. I have decided to concentrate only on FAC and QC. But it is too early to say anything. Let’s see what is in store for me….

WHITE ANGLO SAXON PROESTANT

2005-02-27T00:22:00.000+05:30

so...I m late .I m blogging after so much time tht when I read my blog it seemed a bit distant and stupid but I think this won't be for long...
reasons for this delay -apart from my obvious laziness- were minors (or rather ending of minors - its time to chill man !!), tryst and some other trivial stuffs...
but time really does fly and I m here again facing same academic pressure .In winter vacations i thought tht I hav set an all time low ( even by my standards) in GPA and it can't fall further...
came I minors in this semester & I saw myself going wrong .
It sux to c ur marks so low ( in the only subject tht u thought u did really well) tht they won't be considered respectable even if they were GPA ....
man I all frussed up.. :(
partly this frustapa (and also some QC/EDLC events )were in a way responsible from delaying my postings
just after the minors ended I wanted to write abt BLACK but the enthu died down...)
Tryst - our techfest !
its surprising how inert we (and I M one of them) are towards techfest..last time I did absolutely nothing this time I wanted to take part in only two events- tht too non tech
I quizzathlon ( which I did and cleared prelims-hey we stopped kara brigade !)
II business plan but the organisers decided to limit it to FMCG.. Can u believe FMCG I mean read again it is FMCG...it made me so sore tht I gave up the idea even after this restriction was lifted( and also coz I started working in robomania)
boy was tht an experience !--one of the very very few things tht re-instated my interest in the tech world (and tech job) I was reluctant and skeptic at first but thanks to my batch for their fanatical enthu and my brainwashing- I was in...
man it was ..it was WHITE ANGLO SAXON PROESTANT we worked for 4 days till 6:30 in the morn (others went for night out on the last day..) We argued, agreed, mocked and worked our asses off. On penultimate day I got my reward -I enjoyed the most that day, worked the most and was content that day. though our robot didn't work in the end but for me the project gave me something.. hope
i won't say we all came closer coz we already are..but we understood wht it means to share enthu,joy,failure and - dream...

Before I die...

2005-02-03T15:55:00.000+05:30

Once in a while we notice some thing & say- ‘boy ... this is one thing that I wud luv to do before I die’. I came across this (and this) article and it inspired me to catalogue some things that I had always wanted to do –

In near future (10-15 years.. :) )

Hitch hike all over India ( I want to do this just after finishing my B.Tech )
Finish imdb top 100 movies before passing out
Read 500 books before passing out
Write as much of LAN stuff as possible
Learn swimming
Gain some weight
Be really *high*
Visit Lahul-Spiti – first alone, then with my dear ones.

Once in a lifetime ...

Read 500000 more books; finish ALL movies
Try all sort of extreme sport
Own a really BIG library
Join the 300 club
Visit Europe Laddakh and Australasia
Retire at 45, Start an NGO and do something for my country
Read even more books
Write a book
Make a short movie (all movies are finished remember?)
Say ‘I luv u’ to someone and really mean it
Be happy
Be happy, rich and famous with my family
Know everything (the ultimate question of life and its answer)
Experience death twice (I am dead serious about this)
Donate my body
Or may be turned into a diamond
Or may be both...
Some might sound weird (noticed that ‘club 300’?) but then.. this is what I really wanna do ( of course, apart from getting a degree in four year and job and all that s*** )
May be this is why I liked Amelie so much…

So God created man in His own image...

2005-02-01T16:04:00.000+05:30

Hmmm... so finally I’ve started blogging as well. Though I've had an account since my Ist sem ,I had decided to 'go blogging' only after II yr ; but as one of my friend told me about some really good blogs ( & I told him a few in return..) my interest in blogging resurged. Also was the fact that I had to make a new account to post my comment on one of my friend's blog (u couldn’t post comments anonymously there- one thing that I luv the most).Well one thing led to another and one fine night I found myself before the monitor - BLOGGING!!
Now since I have started, I wanna make one thing very clear to all - who for some strange reason of cosmic proportion are interested in this blog.. (curiosity killed the cat, remember !)
THIS IS MY BLOG !! (echo....echo.....)
and all the view posted (read blurted) out here are mine. I think I am not able to convey my feelings/views to other people properly, nor am I well versed with the art of rhetoric, and as the name (thanx to Pani) itself suggests: I AM CONUFSED!! and frustrated and god knows what.. so please bear with me ( are u still there ?) as in this highly non-linear blog u will find two ideas(?) frequently- I don't know..(meaning I have failed once more to express myself) and another -I am frustrated. My one request to u all is if u know about this blog please keep it to urself as I don't want to feel conscious before posting any post/comment (I have seen some really good blog becoming banal due to author thinking much about who will read the blog rather than what’s on it… ). Comments are earnestly invited (hey ..if u can read this natter(crap), u can obviously spare some time to enlighten me with ur views :) )
I guess this is enough for the first (official) blogging.

And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.

testing

2005-01-22T15:05:00.000+05:30

just testing